(202) 691-5902 Thursday, February 26, 2004 — 2004-02-26

Employer costs for employee compensation for civilian workers averaged $24.59 per hour worked in December 2003, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Wages and salaries, which averaged $17.56, accounted for 71.4 percent of these costs, while benefits, which averaged $7.03, accounted for the remaining 28.6 percent. (See table 1.) Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, from the National Compensation Survey, measures employer costs for wages, salaries, and employee benefits for nonfarm private and State and local government workers. Costs for legally required benefits, including Social Security, Medicare, unemployment insurance, and workers' compensation, averaged $1.96 per hour (8.0 percent of total compensation), representing the largest non- wage employer cost. Employer costs for paid leave benefits (vacations, holidays, sick leave, and other leave) averaged $1.65 (6.7 percent); life, health, and disability insurance benefits averaged $1.88 (7.6 percent); and retirement and savings benefits averaged 90 cents (3.7 percent) per hour worked.