Department of Labor Logo United States Department of Labor
Dot gov

The .gov means it's official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you're on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

State and local government compensation costs average $52.94 per hour worked in September 2020

December 30, 2020

In September 2020, state and local government compensation costs averaged $52.94 per hour worked. Wages and salaries averaged $32.74 per hour worked and represented 61.8 percent of total compensation costs, while benefit costs averaged $20.20 and accounted for the remaining 38.2 percent.

Employer costs per hour worked for employee compensation of state and local government workers, by occupation and industry, September 2020
Occupation and industry Total compensation Wages and salaries Total benefits

All workers

$52.94 $32.74 $20.20

Occupation

Management, professional, and related

63.49 40.68 22.80

Sales and office

36.90 21.12 15.79

Service

39.30 22.37 16.93

Industry

Education and health services

55.27 35.51 19.76

Educational services

56.80 36.75 20.05

Elementary and secondary schools

55.36 35.86 19.50

Junior colleges, colleges, and universities

61.16 39.45 21.71

Health care and social assistance

46.88 28.74 18.13

Hospitals

49.53 30.91 18.61

Public administration

51.31 29.40 21.91

Among state and local government industries in September 2020, total compensation costs were $51.31 per hour worked in public administration and $55.27 in education and health services. Wages and salaries were $30.91 in hospitals and $39.45 in junior colleges, colleges, and universities.

These data are from the Employment Cost Trends program. Estimates of employer costs for health insurance are not available for some industries. To learn more, see "Employer Costs for Employee Compensation — September 2020." We also have more charts on employer costs for employee compensation.

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, State and local government compensation costs average $52.94 per hour worked in September 2020 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2020/state-and-local-government-compensation-costs-average-52-94-per-hour-worked-in-september-2020.htm (visited May 01, 2024).

OF INTEREST
spotlight
Recent editions of Spotlight on Statistics


triangle