A new U.S. Bureau of
Labor Statistics report measures employer costs for wages, salaries, and
employee benefits nationwide for December 2005. Here’s a look at the findings
for private industry so you can see how your organization stacks up.
Average Compensation Costs
Overall, private
industry employer compensation averaged $24.71 per hour worked in December
2005, with wages and salaries accounting for 70.8 percent of this figure and
benefits making up the remaining 29.2 percent. With respect to benefits,
employer costs for paid leave averaged $1.61 per hour worked, supplemental pay
averaged 72 cents, health and disability insurance benefits averaged $1.81,
retirement and savings averaged 89 cents, and legally required benefits averaged
$2.14.
5
Legally Required
Benefits
The report also took a
detailed look at certain types of benefits, including legally required benefits
and paid leave.
Legally required
benefits include Social Security, Medicare, unemployment insurance, and
workers’ compensation. Costs for these benefits varied by occupation, industry,
union or nonunion status, region, and employer size. For example, the average
cost per hour for legally required benefits ranged from $1.33 for service
occupations to $3.11 for management, professional, and related occupations.
What’s more, average employer costs for legally required benefits were higher
for union workers, at $2.98 per hour, than for nonunion workers, at $2.04.
By region, employers in
the West paid the most for legally required benefits, $2.46 per hour, compared
to just $1.88 in the South, which had the lowest costs for these benefits. And
when the
was broken down further into nine regional divisions, employers here in the
Pacific division paid the most at $2.64 per hour.
Paid Leave Benefits
Paid leave benefit costs
include vacations, holidays, and sick leave, as well as leave for personal
reasons, jury duty, military service, and funerals. Employer costs for these
benefits were highest for management, professional, and related
occupations—coming in at $3.47 per hour or 8 percent of total compensation.
Service occupations had the lowest costs, at 51 cents per hour or 4.2 percent
of total compensation.
Employer leave benefit
costs were significantly higher for union workers ($2.26 per hour) than for nonunion
workers ($1.53 per hour). And costs in goods-producing industries were higher
($1.84) than for service-producing industries ($1.55). Interestingly, when
looking at costs by region, employers here in the West didn’t pay the most for paid
leave benefits ($1.64). The highest costs were in the
England
respectively. The lowest were in the East South Central division, at $1.14. You
can read the full bureau report online at www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/ecec.pdf.
Join us this fall in San Francisco for the California Employment Law Update conference, a 3-day event that will teach you everything you need to know about new laws and regulations, and your compliance obligations, for the year ahead—it’s one-stop shopping at its best.