December Hourly Employee Comp Costs were $27

Wages and salaries, which averaged $19.24 per hour, accounted for 69.9% of these costs, while benefits, which averaged $8.30 per hour, accounted for the remaining 30.1%. Employer costs for insurance benefits – life, health, and disability – averaged $2.26 per hour (8.2% of total compensation).

Legally required benefits, including Social Security, Medicare, unemployment insurance, and workers’ compensation, averaged $2.20 per hour (8% of total compensation); paid leave benefits (vacations, holidays, sick leave, and other leave) averaged $1.94 (7%); and retirement and savings benefits averaged $1.21 (4.4%) per hour worked.

In December 2006, private industry employer compensation costs averaged $25.67 per hour worked, the BLS said.

Wages and salaries averaged $18.11 per hour (70.5%), while benefits averaged $7.57 (29.5%). Employer costs for legally required benefits averaged $2.20 (8.6%) per hour worked, insurance benefits averaged $1.92 (7.5%), paid leave averaged $1.76 (6.8%), retirement and savings averaged $0.94 (3.7%), and supplemental pay averaged $0.75 (2.9%).

The full BLS data report is here .

BLS recently reported that annual compensation costs for civilian workers jumped 3.3% for the year ended December 2006, up from 3.1% for the prior year (See Annual Comp Cost Hikes Up Slightly in 2006 ).