Employer Costs for Employee Compensation News Release

For release 10:00 a.m. (ET) Tuesday, September 20, 2022			                    USDL-22-1892

Technical information:	(202) 691-6199  *  ncsinfo@bls.gov  *  www.bls.gov/ect
Media contact:		(202) 691-5902  *  pressoffice@bls.gov


                       EMPLOYER COSTS FOR EMPLOYEE COMPENSATION - June 2022
                       
Employer costs for employee compensation for civilian workers averaged $41.03 per hour worked in
June 2022, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Wage and salary costs averaged
$28.31 and accounted for 69.0 percent of total costs, while benefit costs were $12.72 and accounted
for the remaining 31.0 percent. (See table 1.)

Total employer compensation costs for private industry workers averaged $38.91 per hour worked in 
June 2022. Wage and salary costs averaged $27.44 and accounted for 70.5 percent of employer costs, 
while benefit costs were $11.47 and accounted for 29.5 percent. (See tables 1 and 4.)

State and local government employer costs averaged $55.47 per hour worked. Wages and salaries 
averaged $34.23 per hour worked and represented 61.7 percent of total compensation costs, while 
benefit costs averaged $21.25 and accounted for the remaining 38.3 percent. (See tables 1 and 3.)

Benefit costs for private industry workers ranged from $1.33 per hour worked for retirement 
and savings to $2.96 for insurance. Insurance costs accounted for 7.6 percent of total compensation 
costs. State and local government benefit costs ranged from $0.56 for supplemental pay to 
$7.11 for retirement and savings. Retirement and savings costs accounted for 12.8 percent of total 
compensation costs. (See table 1.) 

Private industry benefit costs

Benefit costs for union workers averaged $20.60 per hour worked and accounted for 40.2 percent of 
total compensation costs. Union worker benefit costs ranged from $1.84 for supplemental pay, 
accounting for 3.6 percent of total compensation costs, to $6.99 for insurance, accounting for 13.6 
percent of total compensation costs. Benefit costs for nonunion workers averaged $10.65 and accounted 
for 28.2 percent of total compensation. Nonunion worker benefit costs ranged from $1.06 for retirement 
and savings, accounting for 2.8 percent of total compensation costs, to $2.85 for legally required 
benefits, accounting for 7.5 percent of total compensation costs. (See table 5.)

Benefit costs by establishment size ranged from $7.82 per hour worked for establishments with 1-49 
workers, accounting for 24.8 percent of total compensation costs, to $19.41 for establishments with 500 
workers or more, accounting for 35.0 percent of total compensation costs. (See table 6.)

For establishments with 1-49 workers, benefit costs ranged from $0.69 per hour worked for 
retirement and savings, accounting for 2.2 percent of total compensation costs, to $2.57 for legally 
required benefits, accounting for 8.2 percent of total compensation costs. For establishments with 500 
workers or more, benefit costs ranged from $2.75 for retirement and savings, accounting for 
5.0 percent of total compensation costs, to $5.10 for insurance, accounting for 9.2 percent of total 
compensation costs. (See table 6.)

Employer Costs for Employee Compensation for September 2022 is scheduled to be released on Thursday, 
December 15, 2022, at 10:00 a.m. (ET).

                                          
                                          TECHNICAL NOTE
                                          
Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (ECEC), a product of the National Compensation Survey,
provides the average employer cost for wages and salaries as well as benefits per hour
worked. The ECEC covers the civilian economy, which includes data from both private industry and
state and local government. Excluded from private industry are the self-employed, private household 
workers, and the agricultural sector. Federal government workers are excluded from the public sector.

Total benefit costs consist of five major categories and include 18 benefit costs:
* Paid leave - vacation, holiday, sick, and personal leave; 
* Supplemental pay - overtime and premium, shift differentials, and nonproduction bonuses; 
* Insurance - life, health, short-term and long-term disability; 
* Retirement and savings - defined benefit and defined contribution; and 
* Legally required benefits - Social Security [refers to Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability
  Insurance (OASDI) program], Medicare, federal and state unemployment insurance, and workers’
  compensation.

All workers are included in the benefit cost estimates including those that do not have plan access
or do not participate. Costs are also affected by other factors such as cost sharing between
employers and employees, plan features, and plan generosity. For the latest information on the
percentage of workers with access to and participating in employer-sponsored benefit plans,
including health care and retirement and savings plans, see www.bls.gov/ebs.

The National Compensation Measures provides additional details on the sample design, calculation
methodology, and resources explaining changes over time, see www.bls.gov/opub/hom/ncs/home.htm.

Sample size
Data for this reference period were collected from a probability sample of approximately 29,600 
occupational observations selected from a sample of about 7,400 private industry establishments 
and approximately 7,700 occupational observations selected from a sample of about 1,400 state and 
local government establishments that provided data at the initial interview. Beginning December 2021, 
an additional (fourth) private industry sample is used in estimation to mitigate the impact 
of decreasing response rates.

Measures of reliability
Relative standard errors (RSEs) provide users a tool to ascertain the quality of an estimate to
ensure that it is within an acceptable range for their intended purpose. RSEs are available at
www.bls.gov/ncs/ect/ecec-rse.htm and database query tool at www.bls.gov/ncs/ect/data.htm.

Comparisons
Compensation costs for state and local government should not be directly compared with costs
for the private industry. Differences between these sectors stem from factors such as variation 
in work activities and occupational structures.

Classification systems
The National Compensation Survey publishes estimates of compensation costs and trends as well as
benefit coverage by ownership, industry group, occupational group, and geographic areas, see
www.bls.gov/ncs/national-compensation-survey-classification-systems-mapping-files.htm.

Additional information
Additional and historical ECEC estimates are available in the ECEC database query tool at 
www.bls.gov/ncs/ect/data.htm and in xlsx format at www.bls.gov/ncs/ect/tables.htm. The 2022 ECEC 
release schedule is available at www.bls.gov/schedule/news_release/ecec.htm. Subscribe to receive 
the BLS Economic News Release email at public.govdelivery.com/accounts/USDOLBLS/subscriber/new. 

If you are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability, please dial 7-1-1 to access 
telecommunications relay services.