Employee-compensation costs

MMPLOYER costs for employee compensation in private industry were significantly higher in the Northeast than the rest of the US, according to Anthony Ferrara, regional commissioner for the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Costs averaged $20.03 per hour worked in March 1994, compared with $15.05 in the South, $16.26 in the Midwest, and $18.08 in the West. The US average was $17.08. Wages and salaries in the Northeast averaged $14.13 or 70.5 percent of total compensation costs. Benefit costs, the remaining 29.5 percent, averaged $5.90 per hour. At $1.83 per hour, legally required benefits were the largest benefit cost to Northeast employers.

The proportion of compensation costs that are benefits in other regions was similar: Northeast; 27.9 percent, South; 30.2 percent, Midwest; and 28 percent, West.