Technical Contact: USDL: 09-0634
(202) 691-6199 NCSinfo@bls.gov
Media Contact: FOR RELEASE: 10:00 AM EDT
(202) 691-5902 WEDNESDAY, JUNE 10, 2009
Internet Address:
http://www.bls.gov/ect
EMPLOYER COSTS FOR EMPLOYEE COMPENSATION-MARCH 2009
Employer costs for employee compensation averaged $29.39 per hour worked in March 2009, the U.S. Department
of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Wages and salaries, which averaged $20.49, accounted for
69.7 percent of these costs, while benefits, which averaged $8.90, accounted for the remaining 30.3 percent.
(See table 1.) Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, based on 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 $2.28 per hour (7.8 percent of total compensation). Employer costs for life,
health, and disability insurance benefits averaged $2.52 (8.6 percent); paid leave benefits (vacations, holidays,
sick leave, and personal leave) averaged $2.08 (7.1 percent); and retirement and savings benefits averaged
$1.31 (4.5 percent) per hour worked.
Private industry
In March 2009, private industry employer compensation costs averaged $27.46 per hour worked. Wages and salaries
averaged $19.45 per hour (70.8 percent), while benefits averaged $8.02 (29.2 percent). Employer costs for paid leave
averaged $1.86 per hour worked (6.8 percent), supplemental pay averaged 78 cents (2.8 percent), insurance benefits
averaged $2.14 (7.8 percent), retirement and savings averaged 96 cents (3.5 percent), and legally required benefits
$2.27 (8.3 percent) per hour worked. (See table 5.)
Employer costs for health benefits varied by industry, occupation, bargaining status, region and establishment
size. These differences reflect in part, the varying incidence of benefit coverage among these groups. The National
Compensation Survey also produces comprehensive data on the percentage of workers with access to and that participate
in various employer provided benefit plans. For more information, see the BLS internet site
http://www.bls.gov/ncs/ebs/home.htm.
Health benefit costs in private industry
The average cost for health insurance benefits was $2.00 per hour worked in private industry (7.3 percent of
total compensation) in March 2009. In March 1999, employer costs for health benefits averaged $1.03, or 5.4 percent
of total compensation.
Among occupational groups, employer costs for health insurance benefits ranged from 91 cents per hour and
6.7 percent of total compensation for service workers, to $2.91 and 6.0 percent of total compensation for management,
professional, and related occupations. Among other occupational categories, employer costs for health benefits
averaged $1.77 (8.3 percent) for sales and office occupations, lower than $2.44 (7.9 percent) for natural resources,
construction, and maintenance occupations, and $2.25 (9.7 percent) for production, transportation, and material
moving occupations. (See table 5.)
Employer costs for health insurance benefits were significantly higher for union workers, averaging $4.15 per
hour (11.4 percent), than for nonunion workers, averaging $1.75 (6.6 percent). (See table 5.)
In goods-producing industries, health insurance benefit costs were higher, $2.80 per hour (8.7 percent of total
compensation), than in service-providing industries, $1.82 per hour (6.9 percent of total compensation). (See table 6.)
Within goods-producing industries, health insurance costs were $3.03 per hour (9.5 percent of total compensation)
for manufacturing workers, greater than the cost for construction workers ($2.18 and 7.0 percent of compensation.) In
service-providing industries, costs ranged from 61 cents in leisure and hospitality (5.1 percent), to $3.16 in the
information industry (7.8 percent). (See table 6.)
Among the four regions, costs for health insurance benefits ranged from $1.71 per hour in the South to $2.29 in
the Northeast. Health care costs were $2.13 in the Midwest and $2.05 in the West. The proportion of total compensation
represented by health benefits ranged from 6.9 percent in the West to 8.1 percent in the Midwest. Within census
divisions, hourly health benefit costs ranged from $1.62 in the West South Central division to $2.30 in the Middle
Atlantic division. (See table 7.)
Health insurance benefit costs increased, both in average hourly dollar amount and as a proportion of total
compensation, with establishment size. Establishments with fewer than 50 workers averaged $1.30 (6.0 percent), those
with 50-99 workers averaged $1.76 (7.1 percent), those with 100-499 employees averaged $2.22 (7.9 percent), and those
with 500 or more employees averaged $3.19 (8.2 percent). (See table 8.)
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Note
The Employer Costs for Employee Compensation news release for June 2009 is scheduled for release on Thursday,
September 10, 2009, at 10:00 AM (EDT).
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Table of Contents:
Table 1. Civilian workers, by major occupational and industry group 5
Table 2. Civilian workers, by occupational and industry group 7
Table 3. State and local government workers, by major occupational
and industry group 8
Table 4. State and local government workers, by occupational and
industry group 9
Table 5. Private industry workers, by major occupational group and
bargaining unit status 10
Table 6. Private industry workers, by major industry group 12
Table 7. Private industry workers, by census region and division 14
Table 8. Private industry workers, by establishment employment size 17
Table 9. Private industry workers, goods-producing and
service-providing industries, by occupational group 18
Table 10. Private industry workers, by industry group 19
Table 11. Private industry workers, by occupational group and
full-time and part-time status 20
Table 12. Private industry workers, by industry group and full-time
and part-time status 21
Table 13. Private industry workers, by major industry group and
establishment employment size and bargaining unit status 22
Table 14. Private industry health care and social assistance workers,
by industry and occupational group 23
Technical Note 24
Note: Supplemental tables with occupational, establishment size, and bargaining status series for detailed
industries are available at http://www.bls.gov/ncs/ect/sp/ecsuptc10.pdf and http://www.bls.gov/ncs/ect/sp/ecsuptc10.txt.
