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Compensation costs in private industry averaged $37.24 per hour worked in September 2021

December 27, 2021

Employer costs for employee compensation for private industry workers averaged $37.24 per hour worked in September 2021. Wages and salaries averaged $26.36 per hour worked and accounted for 70.8 percent of these costs. Benefit costs averaged $10.88 and accounted for the remaining 29.2 percent. In the utilities industry, total compensation costs averaged $69.20 per hour worked in September; benefits averaged $26.57 per hour worked in the industry.

Private industry employer costs per hour worked for employee compensation by industry, September 2021
Industry Total compensation Wages and salaries Benefits

All workers

$37.24 $26.36 $10.88

Construction

41.40 28.95 12.45

Educational services

50.27 36.44 13.83

Financial activities

54.04 36.73 17.30

Healthcare and social assistance

37.09 26.10 10.99

Information

58.89 39.34 19.56

Leisure and hospitality

16.91 13.66 3.25

Manufacturing

41.25 27.44 13.81

Other

30.77 22.91 7.86

Professional and business services

45.36 32.66 12.70

Retail trade

22.51 17.19 5.32

Transportation and warehousing

40.77 26.97 13.80

Utilities

69.20 42.63 26.57

Wholesale trade

42.92 30.52 12.40

Total employer compensation costs in leisure and hospitality averaged $16.91 per hour worked in September. Benefits accounted for $3.25 or 19.2 percent of this total.

These data are from the Employment Cost Trends program. To learn more, see "Employer Costs for Employee Compensation — September 2021." 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 in private industry averaged $37.24 per hour worked in September 2021 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2021/compensation-costs-in-private-industry-averaged-37-24-per-hour-worked-in-september-2021.htm (visited October 11, 2024).

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