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Employee compensation costs $31.39 per hour worked in June 2015
September 16, 2015
In June 2015, private industry employers spent an average of $31.39 per hour worked for employee compensation. Wages and salaries averaged $21.82 per hour worked and accounted for 69.5 percent of these costs, while benefits averaged $9.56 and accounted for the remaining 30.5 percent.
Employer costs per hour worked for employee compensation, private industry, QI 2005–Q2 2015
Quarter
Wages and salaries
Benefits
Legally
required
benefits
Insurance
Paid leave
Retirement
and
savings
Supplemental
pay
QI 2005
$17.15
$2.10
$1.76
$1.54
$0.90
$0.68
QII 2005
17.21
2.12
1.76
1.54
0.88
0.69
QIII 2005
17.23
2.14
1.78
1.55
0.90
0.71
QIV 2005
17.51
2.14
1.81
1.61
0.89
0.72
QI 2006
17.73
2.15
1.85
1.71
0.91
0.73
QII 2006
17.77
2.16
1.87
1.70
0.91
0.73
QIII 2006
18.04
2.18
1.89
1.73
0.93
0.75
QIV 2006
18.11
2.20
1.92
1.76
0.94
0.75
QI 2007
18.34
2.20
1.97
1.78
0.87
0.76
QII 2007
18.32
2.21
1.97
1.77
0.88
0.78
QIII 2007
18.42
2.21
1.99
1.76
0.92
0.78
QIV 2007
18.67
2.22
2.01
1.79
0.95
0.79
QI 2008
18.91
2.24
2.06
1.80
0.96
0.80
QII 2008
18.92
2.24
2.05
1.78
0.95
0.83
QIII 2008
19.14
2.26
2.07
1.81
0.97
0.82
QIV 2008
19.37
2.26
2.09
1.85
0.96
0.81
QI 2009
19.45
2.27
2.14
1.86
0.96
0.78
QII 2009
19.39
2.26
2.13
1.85
0.95
0.83
QIII 2009
19.45
2.27
2.15
1.86
0.94
0.83
QIV 2009
19.41
2.25
2.15
1.86
0.92
0.82
QI 2010
19.58
2.28
2.22
1.88
0.96
0.81
QII 2010
19.53
2.29
2.22
1.86
0.96
0.78
QIII 2010
19.68
2.31
2.24
1.88
0.99
0.78
QIV 2010
19.64
2.28
2.22
1.89
0.97
0.75
QI 2011
19.85
2.31
2.26
1.92
1.00
0.76
QII 2011
19.81
2.33
2.27
1.90
1.03
0.80
QIII 2011
19.91
2.34
2.28
1.90
1.02
0.80
QIV 2011
20.14
2.33
2.31
1.97
1.02
0.80
QI 2012
20.25
2.36
2.34
1.98
1.02
0.83
QII 2012
20.27
2.37
2.34
1.97
1.02
0.82
QIII 2012
20.36
2.38
2.35
1.98
1.03
0.82
QIV 2012
20.32
2.37
2.34
1.98
1.04
0.82
QI 2013
20.47
2.39
2.40
2.01
1.06
0.81
QII 2013
20.47
2.39
2.39
2.00
1.07
0.80
QIII 2013
20.55
2.40
2.39
2.01
1.07
0.80
QIV 2013
20.76
2.43
2.45
2.05
1.10
0.85
QI 2014
20.96
2.44
2.50
2.09
1.15
0.85
QII 2014
21.02
2.44
2.49
2.08
1.23
0.85
QIII 2014
21.18
2.45
2.50
2.10
1.23
0.86
QIV 2014
21.72
2.50
2.54
2.16
1.30
1.10
QI 2015
21.94
2.51
2.58
2.18
1.31
1.12
QII 2015
21.82
2.50
2.57
2.15
1.24
1.10
Total benefits are made up of legally required benefits, insurance, paid leave, retirement and savings, and supplemental pay.
The average costs in private industry for legally required benefits (such as Social Security and unemployment insurance) were $2.50 per hour worked, or 8.0 percent of total compensation in June 2015.
Private industry employer costs for insurance were $2.57 (8.2 percent of total compensation) per hour worked, on average.
The average costs per hour worked for paid leave were $2.15 (6.9 percent).
Average costs in private industry for retirement and savings benefits were $1.24 per hour worked (4.0 percent).
The costs of supplemental pay were $1.10 (3.5 percent) per hour worked, on average.
These data are from the Employment Cost Trends program. To learn more, see “Employer Costs for Employee Compensation — June 2015” (HTML) (PDF).
United States Department of Labor
