| Total compensation costs paid by private nonfarm employers averaged $25.67 per hour in the fourth quarter of 2006, an increase of 96 cents from $24.71 per hour a year earlier, according to the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
The cost for wages and salaries averaged $18.11 per hour in December, up from $18.04 per hour in the third quarter and from $17.51 per hour a year earlier. Meanwhile, the cost for all benefits was $7.57 per hour, up from $7.48 per hour in the third quarter and $7.20 per hour in December of 2005.
The data, which are compiled from BLS’s national compensation survey of more than 11,000 establishments, show the proportion of compensation going to benefits generally has been rising over the past decade, while the share going to wages and salaries has been shrinking. |
