Employer costs for employee compensation

Employer costs for employee compensation for civilian workers averaged $33.37 per hour worked in September 2015, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Wages and salaries averaged $22.88 per hour worked and accounted for 68.6 percent of these costs, while benefits averaged $10.48 and accounted for the remaining 31.4 percent. Total employer compensation costs for private industry workers averaged $31.53 per hour worked in September 2015.

Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (ECEC), a product of the National Compensation Survey, measures employer costs for wages and salaries, and employee benefits for nonfarm private and state and local government workers.

Compensation costs in state and local government

State and local government employers spent an average of $44.66 per hour worked for employee compensation in September 2015. Wages and salaries averaged $28.45 per hour and accounted for 63.7 percent of compensation costs, while benefits averaged $16.21 per hour worked and accounted for the remaining 36.3 percent. Total compensation costs for management, professional, and related workers averaged $54.02 per hour worked. This major occupational group includes teachers, averaging $60.92 per hour worked. Total compensation for sales and office workers averaged $30.83 per hour worked and service workers averaged $34.02. (See chart 1 and table 4.)

For state and local government employees, employer costs for insurance benefits averaged $5.34 per hour, or 12.0 percent of total compensation. The largest component of insurance costs in September 2015 was health insurance, which averaged $5.20, or 11.6 percent of total compensation. (See chart 2 and table 3.)

In September 2015, the average cost for retirement and savings benefits was $4.63 per hour worked in state and local government, or 10.4 percent of total compensation. Included in this amount were employer costs for defined benefit plans, which averaged $4.26 per hour (9.5 percent of total compensation), and defined contribution plans, which averaged 37 cents (0.8 percent). (See chart 2 and table 3.) 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 $3.24 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 $2.63 per hour worked. (See table 3.)

The National Compensation Survey also produces data on the percentage of state and local government workers with access to and participation in employee benefit plans, including health and retirement and savings plans. Detailed data on health and retirement plan provisions are available at www.bls.gov/ebs.

Benefit costs in private industry

Private industry employer costs for paid leave averaged $2.17 per hour worked or 6.9 percent of total compensation, supplemental pay averaged $1.04 or 3.3 percent, insurance benefits averaged $2.59 or 8.2 percent, retirement and savings averaged $1.25 or 4.0 percent, and legally required benefits averaged $2.51 per hour worked or 7.9 percent.

The Employer Costs for Employee Compensation for December 2015 is scheduled to be released on Thursday, March 10, 2016, at 10:00 a.m. (EST).

Employer Costs for Employee Compensation data on total compensation, wages and salaries, and benefits in private industry are produced annually in the March reference period for 15 metropolitan areas. Selected metropolitan area data were included in the March 2015 news release published in June 2015. For further information about metropolitan area ECEC estimates see: “BLS Introduces New Employer Costs for Employee Compensation Data for Private Industry Workers in 15 Metropolitan Areas,” at www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/cwc/bls-introduces-new-employer-costs-for-employee-compensation- data-for-private-industry-workers-in-15-metropolitan-areas.pdf.

Supplemental tables with occupational, establishment size, and bargaining status series by industry group are available at www.bls.gov/ncs/ect/sp/ecsuphst.pdf and www.bls.gov/ncs/ect/sp/ecsuptc36.pdf.

Relative standard errors for all cost estimates in the most recent news release and supplementary tables are available at www.bls.gov/ncs/ect/sp/ececrse.pdf and www.bls.gov/ncs/ect/sp/ecsuprse.pdf.

Historical ECEC data are available in three listings, all available at www.bls.gov/ect/#tables. The first historical listing covers data for the March reference periods from 1986 to 2001. These data use the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) and Census of Population occupational classification systems. A second listing contains data for the March, June, September, and December reference periods from March 2002 to December 2003. These data are also based on the SIC and Census of Population occupational classification systems. The most recent listing includes data for March 2004 to the current reference period. These are based on the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) and Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) systems.

BLS news releases, including the ECEC, are available through an e-mail subscription service at: www.bls.gov/bls/list.htm.

Technical Notes & Links

• Table 1. Civilian workers, by major occupational and industry group
• Table 2. Civilian workers, by occupational and industry group
• Table 3. State and local government, by major occupational and industry group
• Table 4. State and local government, by occupational and industry group
• Table 5. Private industry, by major occupational group and bargaining status
• Table 6. Private industry, by major industry group
• Table 7. Private industry, by census region and division, and area
• Table 8. Private industry, by establishment employment size
• Table 9. Private industry, goods-producing and service-providing industries, by occupational group
• Table 10. Private industry, by industry group
• Table 11. Private industry, by occupational group and full-time and part-time status
• Table 12. Private industry, by industry group and full-time and part-time status
• Table 13. Private industry, by major industry group and establishment employment size and bargaining status
• Table 14. Private industry, health care and social assistance workers, by industry and occupational group
• HTML version of the entire news release

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