Benefits penalty for private-sector part-time workers, 2018

Occupation group:
All private Service occupations Blue collar
Full time Part time Full time Part time Full time Part time
Compensation ($)
Total compensation 39.86 18.00 19.28 13.15 30.66 17.67
W-2 wages 31.84 15.04 15.29 11.16 23.29 13.35
Nonwage benefits 8.02 2.96 3.99 1.99 7.37 4.32
Shares of compensation
W-2 wages 79.9% 83.6% 79.3% 84.9% 76.0% 75.6%
Nonwage benefits 20.1% 16.4% 20.7% 15.1% 24.0% 24.4%
Metrics
Compensation/wage ratio 1.252 1.197 1.261 1.178 1.316 1.324
Part-time benefit penalty* 5.5% 8.3% -0.7%

* Percentage points by which the penalty for compensation exceeds that for wages alone.

Notes: W-2 wages are the sum of direct wages, paid leave, and supplemental pay. Nonwage benefits include insurance, retirement, and payroll taxes. Blue-collar occupations are production, transportation, and material moving occupations.

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics Employer Costs for Employee Compensation data from June 2018 (BLS 2018)

View the underlying data on epi.org.