(202) 691-5902 Wednesday, December 13, 2006 — 2006-12-13

Employer costs for employee compensation averaged $27.31 per hour worked in September 2006, the U.S. Department of Labor�s Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Wages and salaries, which averaged $19.12, accounted for 70 percent of these costs, while benefits, which averaged $8.18, accounted for the remaining 30 percent. (See table 1.) Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, 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. Employer costs for insurance benefits - life, health, and disability - averaged $2.22 per hour (8.1 percent of total compensation). Legally required benefits, including Social Security, Medicare, unemployment insurance, and workers� compensation, averaged $2.19 per hour (8.0 percent of total compensation); paid leave benefits (vacations, holidays, sick leave, and other leave) averaged $1.91 (7.0 percent); and retirement and savings benefits averaged $1.18 (4.3 percent) per hour worked.