11. Wage and Payroll Data

HOURLY AND ANNUAL EARNINGS data, together with some payroll items often considered fringe benefits, are shown in Table 17.

Highest hourly earnings of $2.864 were reported by the petroleum industry. Lowest were hotels paying $1.194 per hour. On an annual basis the highest paying industry was again petroleum with $6044 per full-time employee, and the lowest was again hotels paying $2642.

The average payroll of all companies surveyed was composed of 93.9% payments for straight time, 2.8% premium pay for overtime, 0.4% holiday premium pay, 0.5% shift differential, 1.8% earned incentive or production bonus, and 0.6% for other items, chiefly cost-of-living payments.

In this study, if employees receive regular pay for holidays, but do not work on these days, such payments are reported as fringe benefits in the other tables of this survey (item 4-b of Tables 4, 6, 7, 8, etc.). If the employee works on holidays and receives $2.00 per hour for straight-time work and $3.00 per hour for holiday work, for each hour of holiday work $2.00 would be reported as straight time and $1.00 as holiday premium pay in Table 17. Payroll data in Table 17 are shown as per cent of payroll and cents per hour, but can be converted to dollars per year per employee by using as multipliers the annual wage figures given in the last column of the table.

What Are Fringe Benefits?

There are wide differences of opinion regarding just what constitutes fringe benefits, and how they should be computed. Some do not consider workmen's compensation, suggestion awards, and other items as fringe benefits. Others regard shift differentials, overtime premium pay, and other payroll items as fringe benefits. Some do not regard total payroll as the correct base in computing fringe benefits, but would use straight-time pay for time actually worked.

Three methods for computing fringe benefits are illustrated in Chart 2. In this study fringe benefits were shown as 21.8% of payroll, with fringe benefits averaging $981 per year per employee, and total payroll averaging $4500. However, if the computation base is changed to "straight-time pay for time worked," or $3810, the $981 in fringe benefits averages 25.7%.

If overtime and holiday premium pay, shift differential, production bonus, and other miscellaneous payroll items, are considered fringe benefits, the benefits total $1256, and compared with the straight-time pay for time worked of $3810, the fringe benefits percentage becomes 33.0%.

Differences of opinion regarding what constitutes fringe benefits and how they should be computed indicate the need for a generally accepted definition of fringe benefits, and for a uniform method of comparing fringe benefits with employee compensation.

Primary metal industries.

Fabricated metal products (excluding machinery and transportation equipment).

Machinery (excluding electrical).

Electrical machinery, equipment & supplies.

Transportation equipment..

Instruments & miscellaneous manufacturing industries.

100.0 92.2 3.7 0.5 0.8 2.0 0.8 212.4
100.0 94.1 2.8 0.5 0.6 1.2 0.8 174.1
100.0 90.1 5.0 0.5 0.8 2.9 0.7 207.4
100.0 94.5 3.1 0.2 0.6 1.1 0.5 256.5
100.0 92.5 3.0 0.7 0.7 2.1 1.0 220.4
100.0 95.5 2.5 0.3 0.7 0.5 0.5
100.0 93.8 2.6 0.4 0.7 2.1 0.4
100.0 91.7 3.2 0.5 0.8 3.2 0.6
100.0 92.9 2.7 0.7 0.9 2.3 0.5
100.0 93.2 2.7 0.3 0.7 2.4 0.7 225.9
100.0 92.9 2.8 0.4 0.8 2.7 0.4
100.0 94.2 2.6 0.5 0.7 1.3 0.7
100.0 93.3 2.5 0.6 1.1 1.9 0.6
100.0 92.4 3.1 0.4 0.4 3.4 0.3
100.0 96.5 2.2 0.3
100.0 96.0 3.1 0.3
100.0 95.1 1.6 0.6
100.0 97.3 1.7 0.5
100.0 97.1 1.6 0.1 **
100.0 98.2 0.9 **
100.0

286.4

273.5

7.2 0.9

2.0

1.4 1.4 604+

214.4 201.0

5.6 0.9

1.5

4.5 0.9

4292

91.3 4.8 0.8 0.2 2.5 0.4 262.2 239.4 12.6 2.1 0.5 6.6 1.0 5232

Miscellaneous industries (coal mining, warehousing, and laundries).

* Includes bonus or premium pay only. If employee receives $2.00 per hour for straight time, and $3.00 for overtime, for each overtime hour worked, $2.00 would be shown as straight-time pay and $1.00

as overtime pay. **Less than 0.05%.

*** Less than 0.05.

CHART 2. Annual Fringe Benefits and Earnings per Employee, 1957

12. Comparison of

1947, 1949, 1951, 1953, 1955 and 1957

Fringe Payments

OF THE 1,020 companies reporting in the survey, 694 had submitted data in the Chamber's 1955 survey, and 102 in the 1947, 1949, 1951, 1953 and 1955 surveys. Thus it was possible to trace the growth of fringe benefits for an identical group of companies.

The 102 firms responding in all six surveys reported fringe payments increasing from 15.0% of payroll in 1947 to 16.9% in 1949, 18.7% in 1951, 19.6% in 1953, 21.7% in 1955, and 23.7% in 1957, as shown in Table 18 and Chart 3. This was a rise of 58% in the 10-year period. Legally required payments were 2.9% in 1947, declined to 2.6% in 1949, increased to 3.0% in 1951, and were 2.7% in 1953, 3.0% in 1955, and 3.2% in 1957. Pension and other

agreed-upon payments increased steadily-from 4.3% in 1947 to 4.9% in 1949, 5.6% in 1951, 6.3% in 1953, 7.3% in 1955, and 8.1% in 1957. Paid rest periods, lunch periods, etc., were 1.6% in 1947, 1.7% in 1949 and 1951, but increased to 1.9% in 1953, 2.1% in 1955 and 1957. Payments for time not worked increased steadily from 5.0% in 1947, 6.3% in 1949, 6.6% in 1951, 7.0% in 1953, 7.4% in 1955, and 8.2% in 1957. Profit-sharing payments, bonuses, etc., were 1.2% in 1947, 1.4% in 1949, 1.8% in 1951, 1.7% in 1953, 1.9% in 1955, and 2.1% in 1957.

Due to rising wage rates fringe benefits on a cents per payroll hour and on an annual dollars per em

TABLE 18. Comparison of 1947, 1949, 1951, 1953, 1955 and
1957 Fringe Payments for 102 Identical Companies