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ECEC Home

The Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (ECEC) measures the average employer cost per employee hour worked for total compensation, wages and salaries, and benefits, and costs as a percent of total compensation. These data are collected through the National Compensation Survey (NCS) and provide information about average compensation in the economy at a point in time.

Employer costs are available for different benefits, including paid leave—vacation, holiday, sick, and personal leave; supplemental pay—overtime and premium, shift differentials, and nonproduction bonuses; insurance—life, health, short-term and long-term disability; retirement and savings— defined benefit and defined contribution; and legally required benefits—Social Security, Medicare, federal and state unemployment insurance, and workers’ compensation.

Notices

With the March 2027 release of December 2026 data, the Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (ECEC) will remove workers’ compensation costs from ECEC calculations. Read More »
The National Compensation Measures Handbook of Methods has been divided into three new Handbook of Methods that focus on the three separate NCS publications (ECI, ECEC, Benefits). Read More »

Charts

Employer costs per hour worked for employee compensation, June 2026
Compensation	Civilian workers	Private industry workers	State and local government workers
Total compensation	$49.46	$46.89	$66.45
Wages and salaries	$33.85	$32.82	$40.67
Total benefits	$15.61	$14.07	$25.78

Latest Numbers

EMPLOYER COSTS FOR EMPLOYEE COMPENSATION (ECEC)

Total compensation: per hour worked

Civilian workers $49.46 in 2nd Qtr of 2026

Private industry workers $46.89 in 2nd Qtr of 2026

State and local government workers $66.45 in 2nd Qtr of 2026

News Releases

Private industry compensation costs average $46.89 per hour worked in June 2026

09/09/2026

Employer costs for private industry workers averaged $32.82 per hour worked for wages and salaries and $14.07 for benefits in June 2026. Employer costs for state and local government workers averaged $40.67 for wages and salaries and $25.78 for benefits.
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Next Release

The Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (ECEC) September 2026 is scheduled to be released on December 16, 2026 at 10:00 A.M. Eastern Time.

Publications

Beyond the Numbers

Employer-provided bonuses: what are they, what types of businesses offer them, and who receives them?

This Beyond the Numbers article, presents information on the types of private industry businesses that provide nonproduction bonuses and which employees have access to these bonuses. read more »

Monthly Labor Review

The National Compensation Survey and the Affordable Care Act: preserving quality health care data

With the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the National Compensation Survey has worked to evaluate the potential effects on the cost, coverage, and provisions for the employer-sponsored health care data it currently publishes; and explore possibilities for future collection and publication efforts. read more »

The Economics Daily

Compensation costs for private industry workers averaged $46.89 per hour worked in June 2026

Employer costs for employee compensation for private industry workers averaged $46.89 per hour worked in June 2026. Wages and salaries averaged $32.82, while benefit costs averaged $14.07. Wages and salaries accounted for 70.0 percent of employer costs, while benefit costs accounted for the remaining 30.0 percent. read more »

Spotlight on Statistics

Keeping America Moving: Characteristics of the Transportation and Warehousing Industry

National Transportation Week, created in 1962 and celebrated from May 12–18 this year, recognizes those who build and operate our Nation’s transportation systems. Observance of the week sprung from National Defense Transportation Day which dates to 1957, a year after President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act leading to the creation of the interstate highway system. read more »