Employer Costs For Employee Compensation - — 1996-10-10

Employer costs for employee compensation in the United States (private industry and state and local governments) averaged $18.82 per hour worked in March 1996, the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Straight-time wages and salaries (71.6 percent of the costs) averaged $13.48 an hour, and benefit costs (the remaining 28.4 percent) averaged $5.34. Legally required benefits (e.g., social security, workers' compensation, unemployment insurance) averaged $1.59 per hour worked- -the largest cost to employers among the benefit categories. Legally required benefits accounted for 8.5 percent of total compensation costs and nearly three-tenths of all benefit costs. (See table 1.) Other important benefit categories and their average costs per hour worked were: insurance ($1.29), paid leave ($1.24), retirement and savings (75 cents), and supplemental pay (44 cents), which includes premium pay for overtime, shift pay, nonproduction bonuses, and lump-sum payments provided in lieu of wage increases.