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Employer costs for employee compensation higher in goods-producing industries

October 07, 1998

In March 1998, private industry employers paid an average of $22.26 per hour for employee compensation in goods-producing industries, compared with an average of $17.31 per hour in service-producing industries.

Goods-producing industries include mining, construction, and manufacturing. Service-producing industries include transportation, communication, and public utilities; wholesale and retail trade; finance, insurance, and real estate; and services.

Employer costs for employee compensation, private industry workers, March 1998
[Chart data—TXT]

In goods-producing industries, wages and salaries cost $15.35 and benefits cost $6.91. In service-producing industries, the cost for wages and salaries averaged $12.88 and the cost for benefits averaged $4.42.

In goods-producing industries, health benefit costs averaged $1.48 per hour (6.6 percent of total compensation), compared with 85 cents per hour (4.9 percent of total compensation) for service-producing industries.

Retirement and savings costs also were higher in goods-producing industries (82 cents per hour and 3.7 percent of total compensation) than in service-producing industries (46 cents per hour and 2.7 percent of total compensation).

These data are a product of the BLS Employment Cost Trends program. Additional information is available from the "Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, March 1998" news release.

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Employer costs for employee compensation higher in goods-producing industries at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/1998/oct/wk1/art03.htm (visited March 29, 2024).

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