Employer Costs for Employee Compensation Summary

For release 10:00 a.m. (ET) Friday, March 18, 2022			                    USDL-22-0469

Technical information:	(202) 691-6199  *  ncsinfo@bls.gov  *  www.bls.gov/ect
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                       EMPLOYER COSTS FOR EMPLOYEE COMPENSATION – December 2021
                       
Employer costs for employee compensation for civilian workers averaged $40.35 per hour worked in
December 2021, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Wages and salaries cost employers
$27.83 and accounted for 69.0 percent of total costs, while benefits cost $12.52 and accounted for 
the remaining 31.0 percent. (See table 1.)

Total employer compensation costs for private industry workers averaged $38.07 per hour worked in 
December 2021. Wage and salary costs averaged $26.86 and accounted for 70.5 percent of employer costs, 
while benefit costs were $11.22 and accounted for 29.5 percent. (See tables 1 and 4.)

State and local government employer costs averaged $54.96 per hour worked. Wages and salaries averaged 
$34.09 per hour worked and represented 62.0 percent of total compensation costs, while benefit costs 
averaged $20.87 and accounted for the remaining 38.0 percent. (See tables 1 and 3.)

Within total benefits, supplemental pay costs averaged $1.21 per hour worked or 3.0 percent of total 
compensation for civilian workers, $1.32 per hour worked (3.5 percent) for private industry workers, 
and $0.52 per hour worked (0.9 percent) for workers in state and local government. (See table 1.)

Supplemental pay includes employer costs for employee shift differentials (extra payments for working 
a non-traditional work schedule), overtime and premium pay (pay in addition to the regular work 
schedules, and pay for work on weekends and holidays), and nonproduction bonuses (such as holiday 
bonuses or end-of-year bonuses which are given at the discretion of the employer and are not tied 
to a production formula).

Supplemental pay costs in private industry

For private industry workers, nonproduction bonuses cost employers $0.89 per employee hour worked or 
2.3 percent of total compensation, overtime and premium pay cost $0.36 per hour worked (0.9 percent), 
and shift differentials cost $0.07 per hour worked (0.2 percent). (See table 1.)

Supplemental pay costs by occupational group ranged from $0.43 per employee hour worked or 2.2 percent 
of total compensation for service occupations to $2.41 (3.8 percent) for management, professional, 
and related occupations. (See table 4.)

Nonproduction bonus costs ranged from $0.17 per employee hour worked or 0.9 percent of total 
compensation for service occupations to $2.12 (3.3 percent) for management, professional, and 
related occupations. Overtime and premium pay costs ranged from $0.20 per employee hour worked or 
0.7 percent of total compensation for sales and office occupations and $0.20 (1.0 percent) for service 
occupations, to $0.97 (2.4 percent) for natural resources, construction, and maintenance occupations.
(See www.bls.gov/ncs/ect/data.htm.)

Supplemental pay costs varied by bargaining unit status. Supplemental pay costs for union workers were
$1.86 per hour worked or 3.6 percent of total compensation, while costs for nonunion workers were $1.27
(3.4 percent). Overtime and premium costs were the largest component of supplemental pay costs for union
workers at $0.98 per hour worked, while for nonunion workers the largest component was nonproduction 
bonus costs at $0.91. (See table 5 and www.bls.gov/ncs/ect/data.htm.)

Employer Costs for Employee Compensation for March 2022 is scheduled to be released on Thursday, 
June 16, 2022, at 10:00 a.m. (ET).