Regional Wages Now Trail Nation

Between September 2023 and September 2024, wages and salaries for people working in eastern Massachusetts, Rhode Island and southern New Hampshire increased 1.6 percent, well short of the pace set by the rest of the country.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Monday that compensation costs for private industry workers increased 1.7 percent in the Boston-Worcester-Providence, MA-RI-NH-CT Combined Statistical Area (CSA) for the 12-month period ending with September 2024. Wages and salaries, which "make up the "largest component of compensation costs," were up 1.6 percent here.

Nationally, wages and salaries rose 3.8 percent over the same period, the BLS said.

Of the 15 metropolitan areas for which the BLS tracks local compensation cost data, the Boston region had the smallest over-the-year percentage changes for both compensation costs and wages and salaries.

The San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland area posted the greatest increase in compensation costs at 5.3 percent and the Atlanta-Athens-Clarke County-Sandy Springs region registered the largest increase in wages and salaries, at 5.6 percent, BLS said.

High energy, housing and living costs in the Boston area are a steady challenge for residents, businesses and state policymakers.