Average employee compensation is 28 87 per hour

Employer costs for employee compensation for civilian workers averaged $28.87 per hour worked in September 2008, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on December 10. Wages and salaries, which averaged $20.13, accounted for 69.7 percent of these costs, while benefits, which averaged $8.74, accounted for the remaining 30.3 percent. Employer costs averaged $2.42 for insurance benefits (life, health and disability insurance) or 8.4 percent of total compensation. In addition to insurance, the other benefit categories were: legally required benefits, including Social Security, Medicare, unemployment insurance, and workers’ compensation, which averaged $2.27 (7.9 percent of total compensation); paid leave benefits (vacations, holidays, sick leave, and personal leave), which averaged $2.03 (7.0 percent); retirement and savings, which averaged $1.28 per hour (4.4 percent of total compensation); and supplemental pay (overtime and premium, shift differentials, and non-production bonuses), which averaged 75 cents per hour worked (2.6 percent).

The Employer Costs for Employee Compensation program is a product of the National Compensation Survey, which measures employer costs for wages, salaries and employee benefits for non-farm private and state and local government workers.

State and local government employers spent an average of $13.41 for benefits for every hour worked in September 2008, which accounted for 34.2 percent of total compensation. Private industry employers averaged $7.93 for benefits or 29.3 percent of total compensation. State and local

government employer costs for health benefits were higher ($4.21) than private industry ($1.93). Retirement and savings costs, which includes both defined benefit and defined contribution plans, were also higher for state and local government employers ($3.09) than private employers ($0.97).

Private industry
In September 2008, private industry employer compensation costs averaged $27.07 per hour worked. Private industry employer wages and salaries averaged $19.14 per hour (70.7 percent), while benefits averaged $7.93 (29.3 percent). Private industry employer costs for paid leave averaged $1.81 per hour worked (6.7 percent), supplemental pay averaged 82 cents (3.0 percent), insurance benefits averaged $2.07 (7.7 percent), retirement and savings averaged 97 cents (3.6 percent), and legally required benefits averaged $2.26 (8.3 percent) per hour worked.

Compensation costs in state and local governments
In September 2008, employer costs in state and local governments averaged $39.18 per hour worked. State and local governments wages and salaries, averaged $25.77 per hour (65.8 percent), while benefits, averaged $13.41 (34.2 percent). Among state and local government employees, average hourly compensation costs were higher for management, professional and related occupations ($48.21) than for service occupations ($28.56) and sales and office occupations ($26.69). Wages and salaries averaged $32.80 per hour worked for management, professional and related occupations; $17.30 for service occupations; and $16.49 for sales and office occupations. Wages and salaries accounted for 60.6 percent of total compensation for service employees and 61.8 percent for sales and office employees; for management, professional and related employees, wages and salaries represented a significantly higher proportion of total compensation (68.0 percent).

For state and local government employees, employer costs for insurance benefits ranged from $3.55 per hour, or 12.4 percent of total compensation for service occupations, to $4.89 per hour worked, or 10.1 percent of total compensation for management, professional and related occupations. For sales and office occupations, employer insurance costs averaged $3.97 or 14.9 percent of compensation. The largest component of insurance costs was health insurance, which averaged $4.21, or 10.8 percent of total compensation for state and local government employees.

In September 2008, the average cost for retirement and savings benefits was $3.09 per hour worked in state and local governments (7.9 percent of total compensation). Included in this amount were employer costs for defined benefit plans, which averaged $2.75 per hour (7.0 percent), and defined contribution plans, which averaged 34 cents (0.9 percent). Defined benefit plans specify a formula for determining future benefits, while defined contribution plans specify employer contributions but do not guarantee the amount of future benefits.

A major component of benefit costs is paid leave, including vacations, holidays, sick leave and personal leave. The average cost for paid leave was $3.25 per hour worked for state and local government employees. Among occupational groups, the average cost for paid leave for management, professional and related workers was $3.85, significantly higher than the costs for sales and office workers, which averaged $2.42, and for service workers, which averaged $2.56.

Costs for legally required benefits, including Social Security, Medicare, unemployment insurance (both state and federal), and workers’ compensation, averaged $2.33 per hour worked for state and local government employees. The average cost for management, professional and related workers was $2.71 per hour worked (5.6 percent of total compensation); greater than the costs for sales and office workers which averaged $1.68 (6.3 percent), and service workers which averaged $1.87 (6.6 percent).

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Average employee compensation is 28 87 per hour