Private industry compensation costs $35.96 per hour worked, health insurance cost $2.73, June 2020

Compensation costs for employers in private industry averaged $35.96 per hour worked in June 2020. Wages and salaries averaged $25.18 and accounted for 70.0 percent of employer costs, while benefit costs averaged $10.79 and accounted for 30.0 percent.

For major industry groups, compensation costs were highest for employers in the utilities industry. Total compensation costs averaged $66.63, for this industry, with wages and salaries accounting for 61.7 percent ($41.08) and total benefits accounting for 38.3 percent ($25.55) of total compensation costs. Compensation costs were lowest for employers in the leisure and hospitality industry, with total compensation costs averaging $16.11. Of the total compensation costs, 79.0 percent were costs associated with wages and salaries ($12.73) and 21.0 percent were costs associated with total benefits ($3.38).

The average cost of health insurance benefits was $2.73 per hour worked and accounted for 7.6 percent of total compensation in June 2020.

Among major industry groups, average health insurance benefits costs, per hour worked, were highest for employers in the information industry ($4.63). As a percent of total compensation costs it was highest for employers in the manufacturing (9.3 percent).

These data are from the Employment Cost Trends program. Estimates of employer costs for health insurance are not available for some industries. To learn more, see "Employer Costs for Employee Compensation — June 2020." We also have more charts on employer costs for employee compensation.