October 7, 1998 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Employer costs for employee compensation higher in goods-producing industries

In March 1998, private industry employers paid an average of $22.26 per hour for employee compensation in goods-producing industries, compared with an average of $17.31 per hour in service-producing industries.

Goods-producing industries include mining, construction, and manufacturing. Service-producing industries include transportation, communication, and public utilities; wholesale and retail trade; finance, insurance, and real estate; and services.

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In goods-producing industries, wages and salaries cost $15.35 and benefits cost $6.91.  In service-producing industries, the cost for wages and salaries averaged $12.88 and the cost for benefits averaged $4.42.

In goods-producing industries, health benefit costs averaged $1.48 per hour (6.6 percent of total compensation), compared with 85 cents per hour (4.9 percent of total compensation) for service-producing industries.

Retirement and savings costs also were higher in goods-producing industries (82 cents per hour and 3.7 percent of total compensation) than in service-producing industries (46 cents per hour and 2.7 percent of total compensation).

These data are a product of the BLS Employment Cost Trends program. Additional information is available from the "Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, March 1998" news release.