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Employee benefits cost employers $13.58 per hour for private industry workers in June 2025

September 24, 2025

Total compensation for civilian workers averaged $48.05 per hour worked in June 2025, as costs for private industry workers averaged $45.65 per hour worked and state and local government workers averaged $63.94 per hour worked.

Within employer costs, benefit costs averaged $15.03 per hour worked for civilian workers in June 2025. Benefit costs averaged $13.58 per hour worked for private industry workers and $24.63 per hour worked for state and local government workers.
Employer costs per hour worked for employee benefits (in dollars), June 2025
Benefit Civilian workers Private industry workers State and local government workers

Paid leave

 3.61 3.44 4.71

Paid vacation leave

 1.75 1.75 1.77

Paid holiday leave

 1.05 1.01 1.36

Paid sick leave

 0.56 0.46 1.20

Paid personal leave

 0.24 0.22 0.37

Supplemental pay

 1.69 1.84 0.66

Overtime and premium pay

 0.42 0.44 0.30

Shift differential pay

 0.09 0.09 0.06

Nonproduction bonuses

 1.18 1.31 0.29

Insurance

 3.95 3.44 7.36

Life insurance

 0.06 0.05 0.09

Health insurance

 3.75 3.23 7.17

Short-term disability insurance

 0.09 0.10 0.04

Long-term disability insurance

 0.05 0.05 0.06

Retirement and savings

 2.46 1.54 8.50

Defined benefit retirement

 1.39 0.40 7.93

Defined contribution retirement

 1.06 1.14 0.56

Legally required

 3.33 3.31 3.41

Social security and Medicare

 2.71 2.71 2.71

Federal unemployment insurance

 0.03 0.03 0.00

State unemployment insurance

 0.13 0.14 0.06

Workers' compensation

 0.46 0.43 0.64

In private industry, paid leave costs averaged $3.44, supplemental pay costs averaged $1.84, insurance costs averaged $3.44, retirement and savings costs averaged $1.54, and legally required benefit costs averaged $3.31 per hour worked. In state and local government, paid leave costs averaged $4.71, supplemental pay costs averaged $0.66, insurance costs averaged $7.36, retirement and savings costs averaged $8.50, and legally required benefit costs averaged $3.41 per hour worked.

These data are from the Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (ECEC ) program. To learn more, see "Employer Costs for Employee Compensation — June 2025." Also see charts on the latest data. For more information on paid leave, insurance, and other benefits see the ECEC Factsheets or the Handbook of Methods.

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Employee benefits cost employers $13.58 per hour for private industry workers in June 2025 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2025/employee-benefits-cost-employers-13-58-per-hour-for-private-industry-workers-in-june-2025.htm (visited September 24, 2025).

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