Employer Costs for Employee Compensation News Release — 2020-12-17

Employer costs for employee compensation for civilian workers averaged $38.26 per hour worked in September 2020, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Wages and salaries cost employers $26.25 while benefits cost $12.01. (See table 1.) Private industry worker compensation costs for employers averaged $35.95 per hour worked in September 2020. Wages and salaries averaged $25.23 and accounted for 70.2 percent of employer costs, while benefit costs averaged $10.72 and accounted for 29.8 percent. (See tables 1 and 4.) State and local government compensation costs averaged $52.94 per hour worked. Wages and salaries averaged $32.74 per hour worked and represented 61.8 percent of total compensation costs, while benefit costs averaged $20.20 and accounted for the remaining 38.2 percent. (See tables 1 and 3.) Among state and local government industry groups, total compensation costs were $51.31 per hour worked in public administration and $55.27 in education and health services.