December 14, 2006 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Employer costs for employee compensation, September 2006

Employer costs for employee compensation averaged $27.31 per hour worked in September 2006.

[Chart data—TXT]

Wages and salaries, which averaged $19.12, accounted for 70 percent of these costs. Benefits—including insurance, legally required benefits, paid leave, retirement and savings, and supplemental pay—averaged $8.18, accounting for the remaining 30 percent.

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).

Retirement and savings benefits averaged $1.18 (4.3 percent) per hour worked. 

Supplemental pay averaged $0.69 per hour worked (2.5 percent).

This information is from the BLS Compensation Cost Trends program. These data are for civilian workers (defined here as nonfarm private industry and State and local government workers.) To learn more, see "Employer Costs for Employee Compensation-September 2006," (PDF) (TXT) news release 06-2069.