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Compensation highlights in trade, transportation, and utilities industries

June 04, 2013

A recent issue of Beyond the Numbers takes a look at wages and employee benefits for workers in the trade, transportation, and utilities industries.

Employment Cost Index data indicate that the increase in total compensation in the 5 years ending in December 2012 for trade, transportation, and utilities industry workers was 10.6 percent, compared with an increase of 10.3 percent for all private industry workers. In December 2012, total compensation costs increased at an annual rate of 2.3 percent for trade, transportation, and utilities workers, compared with a 1.9-percent annual rate for all private industry workers.

These are interactive charts. Mouse over to display data.
Employment cost index: 12-month percent change in total compensation, private industry workers, December 2007–December 2012 (not seasonally adjusted)
Month All private industry Trade, transportation, and utilities

Dec 2007

 3.0 2.4

Mar 2008

 3.2 2.9

Jun 2008

 3.0 3.0

Sep 2008

 2.8 2.8

Dec 2008

 2.4 1.9

Mar 2009

 1.9 1.6

Jun 2009

 1.5 0.7

Sep 2009

 1.2 0.9

Dec 2009

 1.2 1.2

Mar 2010

 1.6 1.9

Jun 2010

 1.9 2.6

Sep 2010

 2.0 2.3

Dec 2010

 2.1 2.4

Mar 2011

 2.0 1.9

Jun 2011

 2.3 2.1

Sep 2011

 2.1 2.4

Dec 2011

 2.2 2.4

Mar 2012

 2.1 2.9

Jun 2012

 1.8 2.5

Sep 2012

 2.0 2.5

Dec 2012

 1.9 2.3


The Employer Costs for Employee Compensation data show quarterly employer costs per hour worked for the various components of compensation, as well as the percent of total compensation that each component makes up.
 
Employer costs per employee hour worked and percent of total compensation for paid leave, insurance, and retirement and savings benefits, private industry, December 2012
Industry group Wages and salaries cost Benefits cost

All workers

 $20.32 $8.57

Trade, transportation, and utilities

 17.12 7.19

Retail trade

 13.22 4.42

Wholesale trade

 22.13 9.31

Transportation and warehousing

 22.64 12.41

Utilities

 35.79 23.47

In December 2012, total compensation costs per employee hour worked ranged from $17.64 for workers in retail trade industries to $59.26 for workers in utilities industries.

Employee Benefits in the United States is an annual publication that provides information on the percent of workers who have access to and participate in employer-provided employee benefits.
Percent of workers participating in paid leave, healthcare, and defined contribution and defined benefit retirement, private industry, March 2012
Industry group Paid holidays Paid vacations Paid sick leave Paid personal leave Healthcare (1) Defined contribution retirement Defined benefit retirement

All workers

 77 77 61 37 55 41 17

Trade, transportation, and utilities

 78 76 59 35 54 39 16

Retail trade

 72 68 49 32 44 35 9

Wholesale trade

 90 88 75 34 69 48 15

Transportation and warehousing

 82 84 71 42 68 37 32

Utilities

 98 98 93 61 90 79 81

Footnotes:
(1) Healthcare includes coverage for one of the following: medical care, dental care, vision care, and outpatient prescription drug coverage.
Note: Workers that have access to paid leave benefits are considered to be participating in those benefits.
 

In March 2012, 68 percent of workers in retail trade industries had access to paid vacations compared with 88 percent of workers in wholesale trade industries. Less than half of retail trade workers participated in healthcare plans, compared with 90 percent of utilities workers who participated in such plans.

These data are from the Employee Benefits Survey. To learn more, see “Compensation highlights in trade, transportation, and utilities industries” (HTML) (PDF), by Eli R. Stoltzfus, Beyond the Numbers, May 2013.

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Compensation highlights in trade, transportation, and utilities industries at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2013/ted_20130604.htm (visited March 02, 2026).