Benefits December 8, 2010

Private Industry Comp Costs Averaged $27.88 in September

December 8, 2010 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – State and local government employers spent an average of $26.25 per hour worked for employee wages and salaries in September 2010, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported.

Reported by

PLANSPONSOR staff

A BLS news release said state and local government compensation costs averaged $40.10 per hour worked. Wages and salaries accounted for 65.5% of compensation costs while benefits averaged $13.85 per hour worked and accounted for the remaining 34.5%. According to the BLS, wages and salaries for management, professional, and related occupations, which represent approximately half of all state and local government employment, averaged $33.17 per hour worked.

Health benefit employer costs in September 2010 were $4.65 per hour worked for state and local government and $2.10 in private industry. Defined benefit retirement plan costs for state and local government employers were $2.94 per hour worked, significantly higher than 44 cents for private industry employers. Defined contribution retirement costs were 32 cents per hour worked for state and local government and 55 cents for private industry.

BLS said civilian employer costs averaged $2.63 per hour worked for insurance benefits (life, health, and disability insurance) or 8.8% of total compensation. In addition to insurance, the other benefit categories were: paid leave (vacation, holiday, sick leave, and personal leave), which averaged $2.05 (6.9% of total compensation); supplemental pay (overtime and premium, shift differentials, and nonproduction bonuses), which averaged 71 cents per hour worked (2.4%); retirement and savings (defined benefit and defined contribution), which averaged $1.34 per hour (4.5% of total compensation); and legally required benefits (Social Security, Medicare, unemployment insurance, and workers’ compensation), which averaged $2.32 per hour worked (7.8%).

Private Industry

Meanwhile, the BLS data showed that private industry employer compensation costs averaged $27.88 per hour worked. Private industry employer wages and salaries averaged $19.68 per hour (70.6% of total compensation), while benefits averaged $8.20 (29.4%). Employer costs for paid leave averaged $1.88 per hour worked (6.7%), supplemental pay averaged 78 cents (2.8%), insurance benefits averaged $2.24 (8%), retirement and savings averaged 99 cents (3.6%), and legally required benefits averaged $2.31 (8.3%) per hour worked.

More informtion is at http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/ecec.pdf.