SILVER SPRING, Md.—Wages and benefits for U.S. workers rose in the last quarter of 2020, putting the entire year in somewhat of a normal range as the pandemic continued to rankle the economy. Total U.S. workers’ compensation rose 0.7 percent in the October-December quarter, an increase over the previous two quarters, the Labor Department said on Jan. 29. Growth was 0.5 percent in the second and third quarters, down from 0.8 percent in the first three months of the year. For the year, wages and benefits grew 2.5 percent, with wages and salaries up 2.6 percent and benefits, which include Social Security, grew 2.3 percent. Wages and salaries grew 0.9 percent in the final quarter of 2020, while benefits rose 0.6 percent. Compensation costs for private industry workers rose 0.5 percent in the quarter and 2.6 percent in 2020. The data comes from the Labor Department’s Employment Cost Index, which measures …