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Employers paid an average of $33.94 per hour for employee compensation for civilian workers in March 2016. $23.25 (68.5 percent) of total compensation was paid for employees’ wages and salaries while $10.70 (31.5 percent) went toward benefits. Over the year, costs for wages and salaries increased $0.37 and costs for benefits rose $0.09.
Compensation component | Cost per hour worked |
---|---|
Wages and salaries |
$23.25 |
Benefits |
10.70 |
Paid leave |
2.35 |
Vacation |
1.15 |
Holiday |
0.71 |
Sick leave |
0.35 |
Personal leave |
0.15 |
Supplemental pay |
1.05 |
Overtime and premium pay |
0.26 |
Shift differentials |
0.06 |
Nonproduction bonuses |
0.74 |
Insurance |
3.00 |
Life insurance |
0.05 |
Health insurance |
2.85 |
Short-term disability insurance |
0.05 |
Long-term disability insurance |
0.05 |
Retirement and savings |
1.74 |
Defined benefit |
1.09 |
Defined contribution |
0.65 |
Legally Required benefits |
2.55 |
Social Security |
1.49 |
Medicare |
0.39 |
Federal unemployment insurance |
0.03 |
State unemployment insurance |
0.18 |
Workers' compensation |
0.47 |
Among the five major benefit categories, employers spent the most for insurance ($3.00 per hour) and the least for supplemental pay ($1.05) in March 2016. Most of the costs in the insurance category were health insurance, which cost employers $2.85 per hour on average. Following health insurance, employers’ costs for social security were the next highest at $1.49 per hour per employee.
These data are from the Employment Cost Trends program. To learn more, see “Employer Costs for Employee Compensation — March 2016” (HTML) (PDF).
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Employee benefits cost employers $10.70 per hour in March 2016 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2016/employee-benefits-cost-employers-10-dollars-and-70-cents-per-hour-in-march-2016.htm (visited November 10, 2024).