Press release from the Bureau of Labor Statistics:
Employer costs for employee compensation – December 2009
Private industry employers spent an average of $27.42 per hour worked for total employee compensation in December 2009, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Wages and salaries averaged $19.41 per hour worked and accounted for 70.8 percent of these costs, while benefits averaged $8.00 and accounted for the remaining 29.2 percent. Total compensation costs for state and local government workers averaged $39.60 per hour worked in December 2009. Total employer compensation costs for civilian workers, which include private industry and state and local government workers, averaged $29.37 per hour worked in December 2009.