December 16, 2004 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Employer costs for paid leave

Employer costs for employee compensation averaged $25.36 per hour worked in September 2004. Included in this amount are employer costs for paid leave benefits, which averaged $1.68.

Employer costs per hour worked for paid leave, civilian workers, by major occupational group, September 2004
[Chart data—TXT]

Among occupational groups, the average cost for paid leave for management, professional, and related workers was $3.15. This was more than double the cost of paid leave for natural resources, construction, and maintenance workers, which averaged $1.42. The cost for sales and office workers averaged $1.24—about the same as for production, transportation, and material moving workers ($1.22). Paid leave for service workers averaged $0.78 per hour worked.

These data are from the National Compensation Survey’s Compensation Cost Trends program. To learn more about employer costs for employee wages, salaries and benefits, see "Employer Costs for Employee Compensation - September 2004" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 04-2490. A major component of benefit costs, paid leave includes vacations, holidays, sick leave, and other leave such as personal leave, military leave, and funeral leave.