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Compensation costs for information industry averaged $57.29 per hour worked in December 2018

March 28, 2019

Employer costs for employee compensation for private industry workers averaged $34.05 per hour worked in December 2018. Wages and salaries averaged $23.85 per hour worked and accounted for 70.0 percent of these costs. Benefit costs averaged $10.20 and accounted for the remaining 30.0 percent. The information industry had the highest total compensation costs in December, $57.29 per hour worked, including $37.98 for wages and salaries and $19.31 for benefits.

Private industry employer costs per hour worked for employee compensation by major industry group, December 2018
Industry Total compensation Wages and salaries Benefits

All workers

$34.05 $23.85 $10.20

Information

57.29 37.98 19.31

Financial activities

46.67 31.40 15.26

Professional and business services

40.65 29.25 11.41

Construction

39.19 27.12 12.07

Manufacturing

39.09 25.59 13.49

Education and health services

36.85 25.92 10.93

Other services

28.93 21.11 7.82

Trade, transportation, and utilities

28.22 19.82 8.40

Leisure and hospitality

15.40 12.05 3.35

Total employer compensation costs in December averaged $46.67 per hour worked in financial activities and $40.65 in professional and business services.

Employer compensation costs in leisure and hospitality averaged $15.40 per hour worked. Wages and salaries averaged $12.05, and benefit costs averaged $3.35.

These data are from the Employment Cost Trends program. To learn more, see "Employer Costs for Employee Compensation — December 2018." We also have more charts on employer costs for employee compensation.

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Compensation costs for information industry averaged $57.29 per hour worked in December 2018 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2019/compensation-costs-for-information-industry-averaged-57-29-per-hour-worked-in-december-2018.htm (visited March 29, 2024).

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