Employer costs for employee compensation averaged $30.80 per hour worked in September 2012, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. Wages and salaries averaged $21.32 per hour worked and accounted for 69.2 percent of these costs, while benefits averaged $9.48 and accounted for the remaining 30.8 percent. Total employer compensation costs for private industry workers averaged $28.95 per hour worked in September 2012.
State and local government employers spent an average of $41.56 per hour worked for employee compensation in September 2012. Wages and salaries averaged $26.91 per hour and accounted for 64.7 percent of compensation costs, while benefits averaged $14.65 per hour worked and accounted for the remaining 35.3 percent. Total compensation costs for management, professional, and related occupations, which represent approximately half of all state and local government employment, averaged $50.43 per hour worked. Average hourly compensation costs were $28.97 for office and administrative support occupations.
For state and local government employees, employer costs for insurance benefits were $5.02 per hour, or 12.1 percent of total compensation. The largest component of insurance costs in September 2012 was health insurance, which averaged $4.86, or 11.7 percent of total compensation. In September 2002, employer costs for health insurance averaged $2.83 per employee hour worked, or 8.9 percent of total compensation.
In September 2012, the average cost for retirement and savings benefits was $3.68 per hour worked in state and local government, or 8.9 percent of total compensation. Included in this amount were employer costs for defined benefit plans, which averaged $3.36 per hour (8.1 percent), and defined contribution plans, which averaged 32 cents (0.8 percent) in September 2012. In September 2002, employer costs for retirement and savings averaged $1.81 per hour worked, or 5.7 percent of total compensation. Defined benefit plans specify a formula for determining future benefits, while defined contribution plans specify employer contributions but do not guarantee the amount of future benefits.
Two components of benefit costs are paid leave and legally required benefits. Paid leave benefit costs include vacation, holiday, sick leave, and personal leave. The average cost for paid leave was $3.06 per hour worked for state and local government employees. Costs for legally required benefits, including Social Security, Medicare, unemployment insurance both state and federal, and workers’ compensation, averaged $2.54 per hour worked.
Employer Costs for Employee Compensation ECEC, a product of the National Compensation Survey, measures employer costs for wages, salaries, and employee benefits for nonfarm private and state and local government workers.