June 22, 2007 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Health benefit costs and establishment size, March 2007

The average cost to employers in private industry for health insurance benefits was $1.83 per hour worked (7.1 percent of total compensation) in March 2007.

Employer costs per hour worked for health insurance by establishment employment size, private industry, March 2007
[Chart data—TXT]

Health benefit costs increased, both in average hourly dollar amount and as a proportion of total compensation, with establishment size.

Establishments with fewer than 50 workers averaged $1.20 (5.7 percent of total compensation), those with 50-99 workers averaged $1.56 (6.9 percent), those with 100-499 employees averaged $2.02 (7.7 percent), and those with 500 or more employees averaged $2.88 (7.9 percent).

The data in this report are from the Compensation Cost Trends program. To learn more, see "Employer Costs for Employee Compensation-March 2007" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 07-0877.