Political Calculations: How Much Does It Cost to Employ You? (2011-12 Edition)

October 17, 2011

How Much Does It Cost to Employ You? (2011-12 Edition)

Whether you appreciate it or not, your employer pays quite a bit of money, above and beyond the amount you see on your paycheck to keep you on their payroll. Our tool below estimates how much that is, taking into account things like where you live, what benefits you have, how you get paid and of course, how much you actually see on your paycheck!

Just enter the indicated data into the table below, click the "Calculate" button, and we'll run the numbers....

Employee Compensation Data
Input Data	Values
Your Base Hourly Pay Alternatively, enter your annual pay and divide by 2080 (i.e. "30000/2080")
How Often Are You Paid? Select "Weekly", "Biweekly/Bimonthly" or "Monthly"
How Are You Paid? Select "Check" or "Direct Deposit"
Employee Paid Time Off Data
Number of Paid Holidays per Year
Number of Paid Vacation Days per Year
Number of Sick Leave Days or Other Paid Days Off per Year
Defined Contribution Retirement Savings Plan Data
Percentage of Income You Contribute to a 401(k) or 403(b) Type Plan If lower, enter the maximum percentage of income eligible for employer matching.
How Much of Your Eligible Contribution Does Your Employer Match? Enter Your Employer's 401(k) or 403(b) Plan Matching Percentage.
Health Insurance and Benefit Data
What Type of Health Insurance Do You Have Through Your Employer? Select "Not Applicable" If Your Health Coverage Is Not Provided by Your Employer.
If You've Selected a Health Insurance Type, Select Coverage Type Select "Individual" or "Family".
Your Annual Contribution to a Health Flexible Spending Account Your Health FSA contribution affects your employer's portion of Social Security and Medicare taxes.
State and Employer Data
Select the State in Which You Work Select "United States" for national average data to be used in the calculations.
How Many Employees Work for Your Employer? Alternatively, enter the number of employees who work at your facility.

The Bottom Line
Calculated Results	Cost per Hour	Annual Cost (If Full Time)
Your Employer's Basic Cost of Compensating You
The Percentage of Your "Visible" Pay That Represents

The top table of our results shows the "bottom line" costs, while the second table breaks the numbers down by category. All numbers provided have been rounded to the nearest whole penny.

In the results, we've taken all the latest data we could get our hands on for things like the average health insurance premiums, unemployment insurance and workers compensation your employer pays. We've assumed that like most Americans who are employed in the private sector, that you have no company-provided pension, making you solely responsible for funding any retirement you might have above and beyond what you might be receive through Social Security, except perhaps for an employer-match on your retirement plan contributions.

Your "Visible" Pay
Calculated Results	Cost per Hour	Annual Cost (If Full Time)
Your "Visible" Hourly and Annual Pay
The Portion of Your Pay for Actually Working
The Portion of Your Pay for Time Off Benefits
Your Employer's Costs for Providing Your Benefits
Employer's Contribution to Your Retirement Plan
Employer's Portion of Your Health Insurance Plan Costs
Federal Taxes Paid by Your Employer Because You're On the Payroll
Your Employer's Share of Social Security Taxes
Your Employer's Share of Medicare Taxes
Unemployment Insurance Taxes
State Taxes Paid by Your Employer Because You're On the Payroll
Unemployment Insurance Taxes
Workers Compensation
Administrative Costs of Actually Paying You
Your Share of Total Payroll Processing Costs
Employer's Cost to Transfer Your Pay to You

And that's just for the private sector! Compared to the private sector, people who work for the government will frequently earn equivalent or higher salaries, but will be provided with benefits that far exceed the value of those available in the private sector.

Federal Government vs Private Sector Average Annual Pay and Benefits, 2008

Of course, the economics between work done in the private sector and the public sector are different. The value of the work that employees in the private sector perform must exceed the value of their compensation in order to justify their continued presence on their employer's payroll, generating a combination of revenue or cost savings for their employer. Otherwise, an employer cannot justify keeping the employee on their payroll.

The government however can either raise taxes, arbitrarily increasing its revenue, or can borrow money to pay for its excessively generous compensation packages that no-one in the private sector can hope to receive.

Unless they really earn it, that is!

Labels: business, income, tool

- posted by Ironman at 5:36 AM | Permalink |

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