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Scott Rasmussen's Number of the Day for March 30, 2017
The Number of the Day columns published on Ballotpedia reflect the views of the author.
March 30, 2017: American employers pay an average of $34.90 per hour to compensate their employees. However, the employees receive only $23.87 per hour in salary and wages. The gap, $11.03 per hour, comes in the form of employee benefits.
These benefits include paid leave and sick leave, retirement and savings programs, taxes paid by the employer, and insurance benefits (primarily health insurance).
All told, these benefits account for 31.6 percent of total employee compensation. For a full-time worker, the average hourly income suggests salary and wages of slightly under $50,000, with benefits accounting for more than $20,000 of their annual compensation.
Thirty years ago, the benefit costs accounted for only 27.0 percent of compensation. The increase in benefit costs is one important reason that wage growth has been slower than desired in recent decades. If benefit costs had remained steady at 27.0 percent, the average annual hourly salary and wages paid to full-time workers would be more than $3,300 higher annually.
Just about all of the increase in benefit costs can be attributed to health insurance benefits. In 1986, insurance benefits consumed 5.5 percent of total compensation. That figure has risen to 8.8 percent today.
Government employees receive benefits equal to 37.0 percent of their total compensation. For private sector workers, that figure is 30.3 percent.
These figures are provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.[1]
The 1986 data can be found here.
- Wednesday's number was $25 billion, the cost of storing paper records in warehouses. We now generate so much paper that a firm is building robots to clean up the mess.
- Tuesday’s number was 14, the number of U.S. presidents who made one or fewer appointments to the U.S. Supreme Court. It is possible that Neil Gorsuch could be Donald Trump’s only chance to elevate someone to the court.
- Monday’s number was 4,269, the number of breweries in the United States. That figure helps explain the tension and polarization of 21st-century politics.
- Last Friday’s number was $205 billion, the growth in federal spending projected in President Trump’s 2018 budget plan.
- Last Thursday’s number was 101 minutes, the average time spent in the waiting room and traveling to see a doctor.
- To see other recent numbers, check out the archive.
Scott Rasmussen’s Number of the Day is published by Ballotpedia weekdays at 8:00 a.m. Eastern. Click here to check out the latest update.
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Columns published on Ballotpedia reflect the views of the author.
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See also
- Scott Rasmussen's Number of the Day
- Healthcare Policy
- U.S. Department of Labor
- Federal policy on healthcare, 2017-2020
Footnotes
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