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.
[Chart data—TXT]
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.
Of interest
Spotlight on Statistics: National Hispanic Heritage Month
In this Spotlight, we take a look at the Hispanic labor force—including labor force participation, employment and unemployment, educational attainment, geographic location, country of birth, earnings, consumer expenditures, time use, workplace injuries, and employment projections.
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Read more »