September 28, 2009 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)
Employer costs for employee compensation in metropolitan areas, March 2009
In March 2009, employer costs for employee compensation in private industry averaged $27.46 per hour nationwide. Among 15 metropolitan areas, however, the costs ranged from $25.42 in Miami to $38.28 in San Jose-San Francisco.
[Chart data]
Among the localities with high hourly compensation costs are San Jose-San Francisco ($38.28), Boston ($35.60), and New York ($35.45). At the other extreme, with relatively low hourly compensation costs, are areas such as Miami ($25.42) and Phoenix ($26.01).
To illustrate the range of cost differences between localities, compensation costs are about 50 percent higher in San Jose-San Francisco than they are in Miami.
These data are from the Employment Cost Trends program. To learn more, see "BLS Introduces New Employer Costs for Employee Compensation Data for Private Industry Workers in 15 Metropolitan Areas," in Compensation and Working Conditions Online, September 2009.
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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