July 11, 2001 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Benefits in State and local government, 2001

In March 2001, employer costs for benefits accounted for 29 percent of the total compensation of State and local government workers.

[Chart data—TXT]

Insurance costs were the single largest component of benefit costs, and accounted for 8.5 percent of total compensation. Health insurance comprised most of this figure.

Paid leave was the next largest component, at 7.8 percent. The two biggest components of paid leave were vacation pay and holiday pay.

Legally required benefits and retirement and savings benefits both accounted for just under 6.0 percent of the compensation of State and local government workers. Social Security costs accounted for the majority of the cost of legally required benefits.

These data are a product of the BLS Employment Cost Trends program. Compensation costs (also known as employment costs) include wages, salaries, and employer costs for employee benefits. Additional information is available from "Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, March 2001," news release USDL 01-194.