(202) 691-5902 Friday, September 22, 2006 — 2006-09-22

Employer costs for employee compensation averaged $26.86 per hour worked in June 2006, the U.S. Department of Labor�s Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Wages and salaries, which averaged $18.80, accounted for 70 percent of these costs, while benefits, which averaged $8.06, 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. Costs for legally required benefits, including Social Security, Medicare, unemployment insurance, and workers� compensation, averaged $2.17 per hour (8.1 percent of total compensation). Employer costs for life, health, and disability insurance benefits averaged $2.19 (8.1 percent); paid leave benefits (vacations, holidays, sick leave, and other leave) averaged $1.88 (7.0 percent); and retirement and savings benefits averaged $1.15 (4.3 percent) per hour worked. In June 2006, private industry employer compensation costs averaged $25.16 per hour worked.