Barry Ritholz, citing a June Bureau of Labor Statistics report, breaks down the employer cost per employee hour worked:
· Employer costs for employee compensation averaged $24.96 per hour worked;
· Wages and salaries, which averaged $17.70, accounting for 70.9% of costs;
· Benefits, averaging $7.26, accounted for the remaining 29.1%;
· Costs for *legally required benefits averaged $2.03 per hour 8.1%
(Note that represents the largest non-wage employer cost).
· Life, health, and disability insurance benefits averaged $1.93 (7.7%);
· Paid leave **benefits was $1.66 (6.6%);
· Retirement and savings benefits averaged $1.01 (4.1%).
That’s $56.55 per hour. No wonder President Bush can’t create more jobs!
Update: I just add up the numbers in the left column. . . .
It reminds me of the P.J. O’Rourke spiel about why only he and I pay all the income taxes from Parliament of Whores.
