Employee Compensation

Ever look at the breakdown of employer costs for employee compensation? It is actually quite fascinating. According to today’s BLS release, for June 2004:

· Employer costs for employee compensation averaged $24.96 per hour worked;
· Wages and salaries, which averaged $17.70, accounting for 70.9% of costs;
· Benefits, averaging $7.26, accounted for the remaining 29.1%;
· Costs for *legally required benefits averaged $2.03 per hour 8.1%
&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp(Note that represents the largest non-wage employer cost).
· Life, health, and disability insurance benefits averaged $1.93 (7.7%);
· Paid leave **benefits was $1.66 (6.6%);
· Retirement and savings benefits averaged $1.01 (4.1%).

All of the above is “per hour worked”

*Social Security, Medicare, unemployment insurance, and workers’ compensation

**vacations, holidays, sick leave and other leave

Source:
National Compensation Survey – Compensation Cost Trends
http://www.bls.gov/ncs/ect/home.htm
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/ecec.pdf

Private industry

In June 2004, private industry employer compensation costs averaged
$23.41 per hour worked. Wages and salaries averaged $16.71 per hour (71.4
percent), while benefits averaged $6.69 (28.6 percent). Employer costs for
paid leave averaged $1.49 per hour worked (6.4 percent), supplemental pay
averaged 64 cents (2.7 percent), insurance benefits averaged $1.66 (7.1
percent), retirement and savings averaged 82 cents (3.5 percent), and
legally required benefits $2.04 (8.7 percent) per hour worked. (See table
5.)

NOTE: The Employer Costs for Employee Compensation program converted to
the 2002 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) and the 2000
Standard Occupational Classification System (SOC) with the release of March
2004 estimates. Several publications have been prepared to provide
information on the transition to NAICS and SOC. See page 24 for details.

Retirement and savings benefit costs in private industry

In June 2004, average costs in private industry for retirement and
savings benefits were 82 cents per hour worked, or 3.5 percent of total
compensation. The average cost per hour worked for defined benefit plans,
retirement plans that specify a benefit typically based on age, years of
service, and earnings, was 40 cents (1.7 percent of total compensation).
The average cost of defined contribution plans, retirement plans usually
based on employer contributions to individual employee accounts, was 42
cents per hour worked (1.8 percent of total compensation).

Among occupational groups, retirement and savings costs ranged from 18
cents per hour worked for service occupations to $1.53 for management,
professional, and related occupations. Sales and office occupations
averaged 52 cents; production, transportation, and material moving
occupations, 88 cents; and natural resources, construction, and maintenance
occupations, $1.27 per hour. The proportion of total compensation
represented by retirement and savings ranged from 1.5 percent for service
workers to 4.8 percent for natural resources, construction, and maintenance
workers. (See table 5.)

Retirement and savings costs were higher, both in amount and as a
proportion of total compensation for union workers ($2.27 and 7.1 percent
of total compensation) than for nonunion workers (65 cents and 2.9 percent
of total compensation). Defined benefit plan costs were significantly
higher for union workers ($1.77 and 5.5 percent of compensation) than for
nonunion workers (24 cents and 1.1 percent of compensation). (See table
5.)

Retirement and savings costs were higher in goods-producing industries
($1.38 and 5.0 percent of total compensation) than in service-providing
industries (68 cents and 3.1 percent of total compensation) per hour.
Within goods-producing industries, construction averaged $1.31 per hour and
manufacturing, $1.41. Costs in service-providing industries varied widely,
ranging from 10 cents in leisure and hospitality to $1.40 in financial
activities. (See table 6.)

Among the four regions, retirement and savings costs ranged from 66
cents per hour in the South to 97 cents in the Northeast. Retirement and
savings costs were 92 cents in the Midwest and 84 cents in the West.
Within the nine census divisions, retirement and savings costs ranged from
61 cents in the East South Central division to $1.02 in the Middle Atlantic
division. (See table 7.)

Retirement and savings costs increased, both in average dollar amount
per hour worked and as a proportion of total compensation, with
establishment size. Establishments with fewer than 50 workers averaged 44
cents (2.2 percent), significantly less than establishments with 500
workers or more, $1.82 (5.5 percent).