WASHINGTON, Oct 30 (Reuters) - US labor costs increased moderately in the third quarter, pointing to benign wage inflation.
The Employment Cost Index (ECI), the broadest measure of labor costs, rose 0.8% last quarter after increasing 0.9% in the April-June period, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics said on Friday. The increase in the ECI was in line with economists' expectations.
Labor costs advanced 3.4% in the 12 months through September after rising by the same margin in the year through June. The ECI is viewed by policymakers as one of the better measures of labor market slack and a predictor of core inflation because it adjusts for composition and changes in job quality.
(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)