September 11, 2008 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Employer costs for retirement and savings plans, June 2008

In June 2008, average costs in private industry for retirement and savings benefits were 95 cents per hour worked, or 3.6 percent of total compensation.

Employer costs per hour worked for retirement and savings benefits, private industry, by major occupational group, June 2008
[Chart data—TXT]

Among occupational groups, retirement and savings costs ranged from 22 cents per hour worked for service occupations to $1.94 for management, professional, and related occupations. Sales and office occupations averaged 61 cents; production, transportation, and material moving occupations, 87 cents; and natural resources, construction, and maintenance occupations, $1.42 per hour.

The proportion of total compensation represented by retirement and savings ranged from 1.6 percent for service workers to 4.7 percent for natural resources, construction, and maintenance workers.

These data are from the BLS National Compensation Survey - Compensation Cost Trends program. Learn more in "Employer Costs for Employee Compensation—June 2008," (PDF) (HTML) news release USDL 08-1271.