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                      EMPLOYER COSTS FOR EMPLOYEE COMPENSATION-DECEMBER 2007

     Employer costs for employee compensation for civilian workers averaged $28.11 per hour
worked in December 2007, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reported
today.  Wages and salaries, which averaged $19.62, accounted for 69.8 percent of these costs,
while benefits, which averaged $8.49, accounted for the remaining 30.2 percent.  (See table 1.)
Employers averaged $2.23 or 7.9 percent of total compensation for legally required benefits for
every hour worked in December 2007.   Legally required benefits -- which include Social Security,
Medicare, federal and state unemployment insurance, and workers’ compensation -- is only one of
several benefit categories included in Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, along with
wages and salaries.  Employer Costs for Employee Compensation is a product of the National
Compensation Survey, which measures employer costs for wages, salaries, and employee benefits
for nonfarm private and state and local government workers.

     Employer costs for insurance benefits -- life, health, and disability -- averaged $2.34 per
hour (8.3 percent of total compensation).  Paid leave benefits (vacations, holidays, sick leave,
and other leave) averaged $1.96 (7.0 percent); retirement and savings averaged $1.24 (4.4 percent);
and supplemental pay averaged 72 cents (2.6 percent) per hour worked.

Private Industry

     In December 2007, private industry employer compensation costs averaged $26.42 per hour
worked.  Wages and salaries averaged $18.67 (70.7 percent), while benefits averaged $7.75 (29.3
percent).  Employer costs for legally required benefits averaged $2.22 (8.4 percent) per hour
worked, insurance benefits averaged $2.01 (7.6 percent), paid leave averaged $1.79 (6.8 percent),
retirement and savings averaged 95 cents (3.6 percent), and supplemental pay averaged 79 cents
(3.0 percent).  (See table 5.)

Legally required benefit costs in private industry

     The average cost for legally required benefits was $2.22 per hour worked in private
industry (8.4 percent of total compensation) in December 2007.  Included in this amount are
employer costs for Social Security and Medicare, federal and state unemployment insurance, and
workers’ compensation.

     Employer costs for legally required benefits varied by occupation, industry, bargaining
status, region, and establishment size.  The average cost per hour worked for legally required
benefits ranged from $1.37 per hour worked for service occupations to $3.29 per hour for
management, professional, and related occupations.  Natural resources, construction, and
maintenance occupations averaged $3.11; production, transportation, and material moving occupations,
$2.22; and sales and office occupations, $1.69 per hour.  The proportion of total compensation
represented by legally required benefits ranged from 7.0 percent for management, professional,
and related workers to 10.4 percent for service workers and natural resources, construction,
and maintenance workers.  (See table 5.)

     Employer costs for legally required benefits were significantly higher for union workers,
$3.14 per hour, than for nonunion workers, $2.11 per hour.  As a proportion of total
compensation, legally required benefits accounted for 8.7 percent of total compensation for
union workers, compared with 8.4 percent for nonunion workers.  (See table 5.)

     Costs for legally required benefits were higher in goods-producing industries ($2.83 per hour
or 9.2 percent of total compensation) than in service-providing industries ($2.07 per hour or
8.2 percent of total compensation).  Within goods-producing industries, construction averaged
$3.34 per hour worked (11.2 percent), higher than in manufacturing, at $2.58 per hour (8.3 percent).
For workers’ compensation, a component of legally required benefits, costs were $1.36 per hour in
construction, significantly higher than in manufacturing, 59 cents per hour.  Legally required
benefit costs in service-providing industries ranged from $1.25 per hour for the leisure and
hospitality industry (10.8 percent) to $2.79 for the information industry (7.1 percent).  (See
table 6.)

     Among the four census regions, employer costs for legally required benefits ranged from
$1.92 in the South to $2.53 per hour in the West.  Legally required benefit costs were $2.15 in
the Midwest, less than in the Northeast, which was $2.50.  Within the nine census divisions, costs
for legally required benefits ranged from $1.70 in the East South Central division, to $2.72 in
the Pacific division.  (See table 7.)

     Legally required benefit costs increased in average dollar amount per hour with establishment
size.  In establishments with fewer than 100 employees, average hourly costs were $2.01, less than
the cost of $2.45 in establishments with 100 employees or more.  Legally required benefit costs
in establishments with fewer than 50 employees averaged 9.1 percent; and in establishments with
500 workers or more, 7.3 percent of total compensation.  (See table 8.)

Paid leave benefit costs in private industry

     Employer costs for paid leave benefits were highest for management, professional, and related
occupations, $3.93 per hour, or 8.4 percent of total compensation in December 2007.  Costs were
lowest among service occupations, 58 cents or 4.4 percent of total compensation.  (See table 5.)
Included in this amount were employer costs for vacations, holidays, sick leave, and other leave
(such as paid personal leave).

     Employer cost for paid leave benefits averaged $2.78 per hour worked for union workers,
significantly higher than the $1.67 per hour average for nonunion workers.  (See table 5.)

     Paid leave costs in goods-producing industries were $1.97 (6.4 percent of total compensation),
greater than the average for service-providing industries, $1.74 (6.9 percent of total compensation)
in December 2007.  (See table 6.)

     Among the nine census divisions, paid leave costs ranged from $1.19 in the East South Central
division, to $2.25 and $2.27 in the New England and Middle Atlantic divisions, respectively.  (See
table 7.)

     Paid leave benefits costs increased, both in average dollar amount and as a proportion of
total compensation, with establishment size.  Establishments with fewer than 100 workers averaged
$1.18 per hour (5.4 percent); significantly less than those with 100 workers or more, $2.43 per
hour (7.8 percent).  (See table 8).

______________________________________________________________________________________________
                                           NOTE:

     The Employer Costs for Employee Compensation for March 2008 is scheduled to be released
Wednesday, June 11, 2008, at 10:00 AM EDT.
______________________________________________________________________________________________

                                  Table of Contents:

Table 1.    Civilian workers, by major occupational and industry group   5
Table 2.    Civilian workers, by occupational and industry group         7
Table 3.    State and local government workers, by major occupational
            and industry group                                           8
Table 4.    State and local government workers, by occupational and
            industry group                                               9

Table 5.    Private industry workers, by major occupational group and
            bargaining unit status                                      10
Table 6.    Private industry workers, by major industry group           12
Table 7.    Private industry workers, by census region and division,
            and area                                                    14
Table 8.    Private industry workers, by establishment employment size  17

Table 9.    Private industry workers, goods-producing and
            service-providing industries, by occupational group         18
Table 10.   Private industry workers, by industry group                 19
Table 11.   Private industry workers, by occupational group and
            full-time and part-time status                              20
Table 12.   Private industry workers, by industry group and full-time
            and part-time status                                        21

Table 13.   Private industry workers, by major industry group and
            establishment employment size and bargaining unit status    22
Table 14.   Private industry health care and social assistance workers,
            by industry and occupational group                          23
Technical Note                                                          24


     Note: Supplemental tables with occupational, establishment size, and bargaining status series
for detailed industries are available at http://www.bls.gov/ncs/ect/sp/ecsuptc5.pdf and
http://www.bls.gov/ncs/ect/sp/ecsuptc5.txt.