Stats on Sunday -- 6/21/2020

Do you keep track of the value of your employee benefits? The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) does.

Last week, BLS released the most recent information on Employer Costs for Employee Compensation. This information provides the cost per hour worked that employers spend on wages and benefits, and the share of the employer's compensation dollar that goes toward various benefits.

In March 2020, private employers spent an average of $35.34 per hour worked on employee compensation. 70 percent of that cost was for wages, with the remainder for benefits. The two largest components of benefit costs were insurances (dominated by health insurance cost) at 7.9 percent of compensation, followed by legally-required benefits (such as employer share of Social Security and Medicare taxes) at 7.6 percent of compensation.

Employer costs and the share spent on various components of compensation vary based on industry and occupation, and other factors. Benefit costs vary based on how often the benefit is provided and how generous are the benefit features.

For example, the share of compensation costs going toward insurances was over 10 percent in the transportation and warehousing industry, as opposed to 6.6 percent in the retail trade industry. Such differences may be due to differences in occupation mix in the industry, presence of collective bargaining agreements, and mix of full-time and part-time workers.

The latest release of Employer Costs for Employee Compensation lets you make these types of comparisons across worker groups, benefit types, locations, and more. Give it a try.