Employer Costs for Employee Compensation – March, 2015

Employer costs for employee compensation averaged $33.49 per hour worked in March 2015, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Wages and salaries averaged $22.88 per hour worked and accounted for 68.3 percent of these costs, while benefits averaged $10.61 and accounted for the remaining 31.7 percent. Total employer compensation costs for private industry workers averaged $31.65 per hour worked in March 2015. Total employer compensation costs for state and local government workers averaged $44.25 per hour worked in March 2015. 

Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (ECEC), a product of the National Compensation Survey, measures employer costs for wages, salaries, and employee benefits for nonfarm private and state and local government workers.

Metropolitan area costs in private industry

Total compensation, wages and salaries, and benefit costs in private industry are included in this release for 15 combined and metropolitan statistical areas (CSAs and MSAs). Total compensation costs for the 15 metropolitan areas ranged from $49.26 per hour worked in the San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA CSA, to $25.14 per hour worked in the Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ MSA. (See chart 1 and table 15.)

Health insurance costs in private industry

The average cost for health insurance benefits was $2.43 per hour worked in private industry (7.7 percent of total compensation) in March 2015.

Among occupational groups, employer costs for health insurance benefits ranged from 89 cents per hour worked and 6.1 percent of total compensation for service workers, to $3.71 and 6.6 percent of total compensation for management, professional, and related occupations. Among other occupational categories, employer costs for health benefits averaged $2.09 (8.7 percent of total compensation) for sales and office occupations, lower than $2.90 (8.5 percent) for natural resources, construction, and maintenance occupations, and $2.74 (10.1 percent) for production, transportation, and material moving occupations. (See table 5 and chart 2.)

Employer costs for health insurance benefits were significantly higher for union workers, averaging $5.65 per hour worked (12.1 percent of total compensation), than for nonunion workers, averaging $2.11 (7.0 percent). (See table 5.)

In goods-producing industries, health insurance benefit costs were higher, at $3.30 per hour worked (8.9 percent of total compensation), than in service-providing industries, at $2.25 (7.4 percent). (See table 6.)

Among the four regions, costs for health insurance benefits ranged from $2.06 per hour worked (7.1 percent of total compensation) in the South to $2.98 (7.7 percent) in the Northeast. Health insurance costs were $2.48 (8.5 percent) in the Midwest and $2.47 (7.7 percent) in the West. (See table 7.)

Health insurance benefit costs increased, both in average hourly dollar amount and as a proportion of total compensation, with establishment size. Establishments with fewer than 50 workers averaged $1.58 per hour worked (6.2 percent of total compensation); those with 50-99 workers averaged $2.08 (7.1 percent); those with 100-499 employees averaged $2.71 (8.5 percent); and those with 500 or more employees averaged $4.13 (8.9 percent). (See table 8.)

For information on health insurance provisions, see National Compensation Survey: Employee Benefits in the United States, March 2014, at www.bls.gov/ncs/ebs/benefits/2014/benefits.htm and National Compensation Survey: Health and Retirement Plan Provisions in the United States, 2014, at www.bls.gov/ncs/ebs/detailedprovisions/2014/ownership/private/ebbl0056.pdf

Other benefit categories in private industry

Private industry employer costs for paid leave averaged $2.18 per hour worked (6.9 percent of total compensation), supplemental pay averaged $1.12 (3.6 percent), insurance benefits averaged $2.58 (8.2 percent), retirement and savings averaged $1.31 (4.1 percent), and legally required benefits averaged $2.51 (7.9 percent). (See table A and table 5.)

Employer Costs for Employee Compensation data on total compensation, wages and salaries, and benefits in private industry are produced annually in the March reference period for 15 metropolitan areas. For further information about metropolitan area ECEC estimates see the September 2009 article:

“BLS Introduces New Employer Costs for Employee Compensation Data for Private Industry Workers in 15 Metropolitan Areas,” at www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/cwc/bls-introduces-new-employer-costs-for-employee-compensation-data-for-private-industry-workers-in-15-metropolitan-areas.pdf.

Supplemental tables with occupational, establishment size, and bargaining status series by industry group are available at www.bls.gov/ncs/ect/sp/ecsuptc34.pdf and www.bls.gov/ncs/ect/sp/ecsuphst.pdf.

Relative standard errors for all cost estimates in the most recent news release and supplementary tables are available at www.bls.gov/ncs/ect/sp/ececrse.pdf and www.bls.gov/ncs/ect/sp/ecsuprse.pdf. 

Historical ECEC data are available in three listings, all available at www.bls.gov/ect/#tables. The

earliest historical listing covers data for the March reference periods from 1986 to 2001. These data use the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) and Census of Population occupational classification systems. A second listing contains data for the March, June, September, and December reference periods from March 2002 to December 2003. These data are also based on the SIC and Census of Population occupational classification systems. The most recent listing includes data from March 2004 to the current reference period. These are based on the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) and Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) systems.

The Consolidated Statistical Areas (CSAs) and Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) are defined by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 2003 area definitions.  For more information on the area definitions, visit www.census.gov/population/metro/data/pastmetro.html.

Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request— Telephone:  (202) 691-5200; Federal Relay Service:  (800) 877-8339.

BLS news releases, including the ECEC, are available through an e-mail subscription service at:

www.bls.gov/bls/list.htm.

• Technical Note
• Table 1. Civilian workers, by major occupational and industry group
• Table 2. Civilian workers, by occupational and industry group
• Table 3. State and local government, by major occupational and industry group
• Table 4. State and local government, by occupational and industry group
• Table 5. Private industry, by major occupational group and bargaining status
• Table 6. Private industry, by major industry group
• Table 7. Private industry, by census region and division, and area
• Table 8. Private industry, by establishment employment size
• Table 9. Private industry, goods-producing and service-providing industries, by occupational group
• Table 10. Private industry, by industry group
• Table 11. Private industry, by occupational group and full-time and part-time status
• Table 12. Private industry, by industry group and full-time and part-time status
• Table 13. Private industry, by major industry group and establishment employment size and bargaining status
• Table 14. Private industry, health care and social assistance workers, by industry and occupational group
• Table 15. Private industry, by census region and selected metropolitan area
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The PDF version of the news release

Table of Contents

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics