BLS: Health Accounts For 6.5% Of Employer Labor Costs

NU Online News Service, Dec. 1, 2003, 6:17 p.m. EST – Health insurance ate up 6.5% of private U.S. employers’ expenditures on labor in September, up from 6.1% in September 2002, according to new survey results from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.[@@]

The percentage of employer labor costs going toward life insurance held steady at 0.2%, and the percentage spent on disability benefits held steady at 0.3%.

The dollar value of employers’ health benefits expenditures increased to $1.48 per hour, from $1.34 hour.

Private employers’ total labor costs increased 83 cents per hour, to $22.01 per hour, and health benefits costs accounted for 17% of that increase.