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Compensation costs for civilian workers averaged $48.60 per hour worked in September 2025

March 18, 2026

Total employer compensation costs for civilian workers averaged $48.60 per hour worked in September 2025. Wages and salaries cost employers $33.41 per hour worked, while benefits cost $15.18.

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Employer compensation costs per hour worked, in dollars, September 2025
Compensation	Civilian workers	Private industry workers	State and local government workers
Total compensation	48.60	46.05	65.28
Wages and salaries	33.41	32.37	40.24
Total benefits	15.18	13.68	25.04

For private industry workers, total employer compensation costs averaged $46.05 per hour worked. Wage and salary costs averaged $32.37, while benefit costs were $13.68. Total compensation costs for workers in state and local government averaged $65.28 per hour worked. Wages and salaries averaged $40.24 per hour worked, while benefit costs averaged $25.04.

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Employer costs per hour worked for employee benefits, in dollars, September 2025
Benefit	Civilian workers	Private industry workers	State and local government workers
Paid leave	3.66	3.48	4.82
Paid vacation leave	1.77	1.77	1.80
Paid holiday leave	1.07	1.02	1.39
Paid sick leave	0.57	0.47	1.24
Paid personal leave	0.24	0.22	0.40
Supplemental pay	1.70	1.85	0.67
Overtime and premium pay	0.43	0.44	0.31
Shift differential pay	0.09	0.09	0.07
Nonproduction bonuses	1.18	1.31	0.30
Insurance	3.99	3.46	7.45
Life insurance	0.06	0.05	0.09
Health insurance	3.78	3.25	7.26
Short-term disability insurance	0.09	0.10	0.04
Long-term disability insurance	0.05	0.05	0.06
Retirement and savings	2.49	1.55	8.63
Defined benefit retirement	1.42	0.41	8.04
Defined contribution retirement	1.07	1.14	0.58
Legally required	3.35	3.34	3.47
Social security and Medicare	2.74	2.73	2.77
Federal unemployment insurance	0.03	0.03	–
State unemployment insurance	0.13	0.14	0.06
Workers' compensation	0.46	0.43	0.64

Paid leave costs for civilian workers averaged $3.66 per hour worked in September 2025 with costs averaging $3.48 per hour worked for private industry workers and $4.82 for workers in state and local government. Insurance costs averaged $3.99 per hour worked for civilian workers, $3.46 for private industry workers, and $7.45 for state and local government workers.

These data are from the Employer Costs for Employee Compensation program and are not seasonally adjusted. To learn more, see "Employer Costs for Employee Compensation — September 2025." 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 civilian workers averaged $48.60 per hour worked in September 2025 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2026/compensation-costs-for-civilian-workers-averaged-48-60-per-hour-worked-in-september-2025.htm (visited March 18, 2026).

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