Employer Costs for Employee Compensation 

news release text

FOR RELEASE 10:00 A.M. (EDT) WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2011                              USDL-11-1718
REDUCE THE SIZE OF GOVERNMENT ... IS THE FIRST STEP IN RESTORING FISCAL SOUNDNESS!

Technical information:
     (202) 691-6199  NCSinfo@bls.gov  http://www.bls.gov/ect
Media contact:
     (202) 691-5902  PressOffice@bls.gov

EMPLOYER COSTS FOR EMPLOYEE COMPENSATION - SEPTEMBER 2011
Employer costs for employee compensation averaged $30.11 per hour worked in September 2011, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Wages and salaries averaged $20.91 per hour worked and accounted for 69.4 percent of these costs, while benefits averaged $9.21 and accounted for the remaining 30.6 percent. Total employer compensation costs for private industry workers averaged $28.24 per hour worked in September 2011. 

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.

Compensation costs in state and local government

 State and local government employers spent an average of $40.76 per hour worked for employee compensation in September 2011. Wages and salaries averaged $26.57 per hour and 65.2 percent of compensation costs, while benefits averaged $14.19 per hour worked and accounted for the remaining 34.8 percent. Total compensation costs for management, professional,and related occupations, which represent approximately half of all state and local government employment, averaged $49.37 per hour worked.  Average hourly compensation costs were $30.86 for service occupations and $28.49 for sales and office occupations.

 For state and local government employees, employer costs for insurance benefits were $4.89 per hour, or 12.0 percent of total compensation. The largest component of insurance costs was health insurance, which averaged $4.74, or 11.6 percent of total compensation.

 In September 2011, the average cost for retirement and savings benefits was $3.42 per hour worked in state and local government (8.4 percent of total compensation). Included in this amount were employer costs for defined benefit plans, which averaged $3.10 per hour (7.6 percent), and defined contribution plans, which averaged 33 cents (0.8 percent). 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 $3.03 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 $2.50 per hour worked.

The National Compensation Survey 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 http://www.bls.gov/ebs