Employer Costs for Employee Compensation News Release — 2008-12-10

Employer costs for employee compensation for civilian workers averaged $28.87 per hour worked in September 2008, the U.S. Department of Labor�s Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Wages and salaries, which averaged $20.13, accounted for 69.7 percent of these costs, while benefits, which averaged $8.74, accounted for the remaining 30.3 percent. Employer costs averaged $2.42 for insurance benefits (life, health, and disability insurance) or 8.4 percent of total compensation. In addition to insurance, the other benefit categories were: legally required benefits, including Social Security, Medicare, unemployment insurance, and workers� compensation, which averaged $2.27 (7.9 percent of total compensation); paid leave benefits (vacations, holidays, sick leave, and personal leave), which averaged $2.03 (7.0 percent); retirement and savings, which averaged $1.28 per hour (4.4 percent of total compensation); and supplemental pay (overtime and premium, shift differentials, and nonproduction bonuses), which averaged 75 cents per hour worked (2.6 percent).