Employer Costs for Employee Compensation News Release — 2013-12-11

Employer costs for employee compensation averaged $31.16 per hour worked in September 2013, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Wages and salaries averaged $21.54 per hour worked and accounted for 69.1 percent of these costs, while benefits averaged $9.61 and accounted for the remaining 30.9 percent. Total employer compensation costs for private industry workers averaged $29.23 per hour worked in September 2013. Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (ECEC), a product of the National Compensation Survey, measures employer costs for wages, salaries, and employee benefits for nonfarm private and state and local government workers. State and local government employers spent an average of $42.51 per hour worked for employee compensation in September 2013. Wages and salaries averaged $27.38 per hour and accounted for 64.4 percent of compensation costs, while benefits averaged $15.13 per hour worked and accounted for the remaining 35.6 percent.