New England was one of just two Census divisions in the country to see a drop in employee wages and benefits per hour worked, according to new federal data.
Private employers across the six New England states spent $40.89 per hour on total compensation during the month ($28.17 on wages/salaries and $12.71 on benefits), according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
That was down from $41.13 per hour in March of 2019. The 0.5% drop year over year was within the margin of error.
BLS said COVID-19 did not affect its survey sampling for the data.
New England is one of nine Census divisions measured in the quarterly data and is the second highest for overall compensation costs.
The Pacific division (Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington), remained the highest in March, at $42.94 per hour in total compensation.
The four-state West South Central division (Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas) was the only other of the nine divisions to see a decline in employer total compensation costs from March to March, according to BLS, with cost per hour worked falling from $32.01 to $31.06, which was also within the error margin.
