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In June 2014, the average cost per hour worked for employee compensation among private industry employers varied considerably by major occupational group. In management, professional, and related occupations, for example, employers spent an average of $53.52 per hour worked ($37.20 for wages and salaries and $16.33 for benefits), while in service occupations, employer costs were $14.10 per hour ($10.72 for wages and salaries and $3.39 for benefits).
Compensation component | Management, professional, and related | Sales and office | Service | Natural resources, construction, and maintenance | Production, transportation, and material moving |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total compensation |
$53.52 | $23.24 | $14.10 | $33.46 | $26.14 |
Total benefits |
16.33 | 6.72 | 3.39 | 11.04 | 8.89 |
Paid leave |
4.61 | 1.43 | 0.56 | 1.77 | 1.57 |
Supplemental pay |
1.62 | 0.55 | 0.24 | 1.00 | 0.96 |
Insurance |
3.87 | 2.18 | 0.88 | 2.98 | 2.88 |
Retirement and savings |
2.61 | 0.71 | 0.22 | 2.00 | 0.99 |
Legally required benefits |
3.62 | 1.85 | 1.49 | 3.30 | 2.51 |
Wages and salaries |
37.20 | 16.53 | 10.72 | 22.41 | 17.24 |
Note: Sum of individual items may not equal totals because of rounding. |
Among all private industry workers, employers spent an average of $30.11 per hour worked for employee compensation in June; wages and salaries averaged $21.02 per hour worked and accounted for 69.8 percent of these costs, while benefits averaged $9.09 and accounted for the remaining 30.2 percent.
These data are from the Employment Cost Trends program. To learn more, see "Employer Costs for Employee Compensation — June 2014" (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL-14-1673.
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Employer costs for employee compensation, June 2014 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2014/ted_20140912.htm (visited March 21, 2025).