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Compensation costs for civilian workers averaged $42.48 per hour worked in December 2022

March 27, 2023

Total employer compensation costs for civilian workers averaged $42.48 per hour worked in December 2022. Wages and salaries cost employers $29.32 and accounted for 69.0 percent of total costs, while benefits cost $13.17 and accounted for the remaining 31.0 percent.

Employer compensation costs per hour worked, December 2022
Compensation component Civilian workers Private industry State and local government workers
Cost ($) Percent of compensation Cost ($) Percent of compensation Cost ($) Percent of compensation

Total compensation

$42.48 100.0% $40.23 100.0% $57.60 100.0%

Wages and salaries

29.32 69.0 28.37 70.5 35.69 62.0

Total benefits

13.17 31.0 11.86 29.5 21.91 38.0

Total employer compensation costs for state and local government averaged $57.60 per hour worked. Wages and salaries averaged $35.69 per hour worked and represented 62.0 percent of total compensation costs, while benefit costs averaged $21.91 and accounted for the remaining 38.0 percent. For private industry workers, total employer compensation costs averaged $40.23 per hour worked. Wage and salary costs averaged $28.37 and accounted for 70.5 percent of employer costs, while benefit costs were $11.86 and accounted for 29.5 percent.

Employer costs per hour worked for employee benefits, December 2022
Benefit Civilian workers Private industry workers State and local government workers

Paid leave

$3.17 $3.01 $4.23

Paid vacation leave

1.55 1.54 1.58

Paid holiday leave

0.94 0.89 1.21

Paid sick leave

0.50 0.41 1.09

Paid personal leave

0.19 0.16 0.34

Supplemental pay

1.37 1.49 0.56

Overtime and premium pay

0.37 0.39 0.25

Shift differential pay

0.07 0.07 0.05

Nonproduction bonuses

0.93 1.03 0.26

Insurance

3.45 3.00 6.52

Life insurance

0.05 0.04 0.08

Health insurance

3.28 2.82 6.36

Short-term disability insurance

0.08 0.09 0.03

Long-term disability insurance

0.05 0.05 0.05

Retirement and savings

2.16 1.36 7.48

Defined benefit retirement

1.26 0.41 6.98

Defined contribution retirement

0.89 0.95 0.51

Legally required

3.02 3.01 3.12

Social security and Medicare

2.39 2.39 2.45

Federal unemployment insurance

0.03 0.03 0.00

State unemployment insurance

0.14 0.15 0.07

Workers' compensation

0.46 0.45 0.59

Paid leave costs for civilian workers averaged $3.17 per hour worked in December 2022 and accounted for 7.5 percent of total compensation costs. Paid leave costs averaged $4.23 per hour worked for state and local government workers in December 2022, and $3.01 for workers in private industry. Insurance costs averaged $3.45 per hour worked for civilian workers, $3.00 per hour worked for private industry workers, and $6.52 per hour worked for state and local government workers in December 2022.

These data are from the Employment Cost Index program and are not seasonally adjusted. To learn more, see "Employer Costs for Employee Compensation — December 2022." We also have more charts on employer costs for employee compensation.

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Compensation costs for civilian workers averaged $42.48 per hour worked in December 2022 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2023/compensation-costs-for-civilian-workers-averaged-42-48-per-hour-worked-in-december-2022.htm (visited October 31, 2024).

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