Employer costs for employee compensation averaged $34.05
per hour worked in June 2016, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported
today. Wages and salaries averaged $23.35 per hour worked and accounted for
68.6 percent of these costs, while benefits averaged $10.70 and accounted for
the remaining 31.4 percent. Total employer compensation costs for
private industry workers averaged $32.29 per hour worked in June 2016. Total
employer compensation costs for state and local government workers averaged
$45.14 per hour worked in June 2016.
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.
Retirement and
savings in private industry
In June 2016, average costs in private industry for
retirement and savings benefits were $1.27 per
hour worked, or 3.9 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 55 cents or 1.7 percent of total
compensation. The average cost for defined contribution plans–retirement plans
that specify the level of employer contributions and place those contributions into
individual employee accounts–was 71 cents or 2.2 percent of total compensation.
(See table 5.)
Employer costs for retirement and savings plans are
affected by several factors, including the percentage of employees that
participate in the plans offered by their employer. (The National Compensation Survey
produces comprehensive data on the percentage of workers with access to and
that participate in retirement plans. Data for March 2016 are available at
www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/ebs2.pdf.)
Retirement and savings costs varied widely by major
occupational group. Costs for management,
professional, and related workers were $2.59 per hour
worked (4.5 percent of total ompensation),
compared to $1.81 for natural resources, construction,
and maintenance workers (5.3 percent) and 26 cents for service workers (1.7
percent). (See table 5.)
Retirement and savings costs were higher both in amount
and as a proportion of total compensation for union workers averaging $4.34 per
hour worked (9.0 percent of total compensation) as compared with 97 cents (3.1
percent) for nonunion workers. Defined benefit plan costs were significantly
higher for union workers at $3.12 (6.5 percent) as compared with 30 cents (1.0
percent) for nonunion workers. (See table 5.)
Retirement and savings costs were higher per hour worked
in goods-producing industries ($2.09 and 5.4 percent of total compensation)
than in service-providing industries ($1.10 and 3.5 percent). Retirement and
savings costs across major industry groups ranged from $2.31 in the information
industry to 24 cents in leisure and hospitality. (See chart 1 and table 6.)
Among Census regions, employer retirement and savings
costs averaged $1.63 (4.1 percent of total compensation) in the Northeast,
$1.11 (3.8 percent) in the South, $1.16 (3.9 percent) in the Midwest, and $1.33
(4.0 percent) in the West. (See table 7.)
Establishments with 1 to 99 workers averaged 78 cents
(2.8 percent of total compensation), the costs for establishments with 100
workers or more averaged $1.86 (4.9 percent). (See chart 2 and table 8.)
Employer retirement and savings benefit costs for
full-time workers in private industry averaged $1.61 per hour worked (4.2
percent of total compensation), significantly higher than 34 cents for
part-time workers (2.0 percent). Retirement and savings costs for full-time
workers in service occupations averaged 46 cents per hour worked, compared with
10 cents for part-time workers. (See table 11.)
For information on retirement and savings provisions, see
National Compensation Survey: Employee Benefits in the United States, March
2015, at www.bls.gov/ncs/ebs/benefits/2015/benefits.htm and National
Compensation Survey: Health and Retirement Plan Provisions in Private Industry
in the United States, 2015, at
www.bls.gov/ncs/ebs/detailedprovisions/2015/ownership/private/ebbl0058.pdf.
Other benefit
categories in private industry
Private industry employer costs for paid leave averaged
$2.22 per hour worked (6.9 percent of total compensation), supplemental pay
averaged $1.16 (3.6 percent), insurance benefits averaged $2.58 (8.0 percent),
and legally required benefits averaged $2.54 (7.9 percent). (See table A and
table 5.)
Table A. Relative
importance of employer costs for employee compensation, June 2016
Compensation Civilian
Private State and local
component workers(1) industry government
______________________________________________________________________________
Wages and salaries 68.6% 69.7% 63.3%
Benefits: 31.4
30.3 36.7
Paid leave 6.9 6.9 7.2
Supplemental pay 3.1 3.6 0.9
Insurance 8.8 8.0 12.1
Health benefits 8.3 7.6 11.8
Retirement and
savings 5.1 3.9 10.6
Defined benefit 3.2 1.7 9.8
Defined contribution 2.0 2.2 0.8
Legally required 7.5 7.9 5.9
_____________________________________________________________________________
1 Includes workers in the private nonfarm economy except
those in private households, and
workers in the
public sector, except the federal government.
Employer Costs for Employee Compensation for September
2016 is scheduled to be released on
Thursday, December 8, 2016, at 10:00 a.m. (EST).
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/ecsuptc39.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:
Source: BLS
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