N.E. employer costs higher than national average

TOTAL EMPLOYER COSTS in New England averaged $34.80 per hour in June, rising 40 cents in a six-month period, according to a quarterly U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report released Friday. / COURTESY BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS
TOTAL EMPLOYER COSTS in New England averaged $34.80 per hour in June, rising 40 cents in a six-month period, according to a quarterly U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report released Friday. / COURTESY BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS

PROVIDENCE – Private-industry employer costs for employee compensation in New England averaged $34.80 per hour in June, rising 40 cents in a six-month period, according to a quarterly U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report released Friday.
Among the nine geographic divisions, the Mid-Atlantic region (New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania) had the highest employer costs for employees at $35.14 per hour, while the lowest was the East-South-Central region (Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee) at $24.33. The national average in June was $30.11 per hour.
Regionally, compensation costs in the Northeast, which in addition to New England includes the mid-Atlantic region, averaged $35.05 per hour, the most in the nation.
Employer costs for employee compensations data are based on the National Compensation Survey, which measures employer costs for wages, salaries and employee benefits. Benefits include insurance costs, Social Security and Medicare, compensation, unemployment insurance and paid leave benefits.
In New England, wages and salaries accounted for 70.4 percent of total compensation costs, or $24.49 per hour, while benefits accounted for 29.6 percent of costs, or $10.31 per hour. Insurance amounted to nearly 8 percent in costs.
Total benefits within the New England division was comprised mostly of the following categories: legally required benefits (including Social Security and Medicare), $2.80 per hour; insurance (including life, health, short-, and long-term disability insurance), $2.73 per hour; and paid leave (which included vacation, holiday, sick and personal leave categories) at $2.42 per hour. Retirement and savings added another $1.39 per hour to the total benefits cost in New England.
In December, New England’s employer costs averaged $34.40 per hour.

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