>The useful figure is "total employee compensation" which includes the value of benefits such as vacation, sick days, health insurance, 401k contributions, etc.

>The useful figure is "total employee compensation" which includes the value of benefits such as vacation, sick days, health insurance, 401k contributions, etc. All of this can add another 40% to the wages. No, actually that figure is not useful at all, and is one of the primary tools used by BLS and others to obfuscate and mislead about actual wages. Your employer and BLS may "value" your health insurance at $10,000 a year compensation. However, if you have a $5,000 deductible and cannot afford to pay for medical care out of pocket that "compensation" is worthless to you. Food costs actual dollars. Rent cost actual dollars. Gas costs actual dollars. The only thing that matters is the dollars you actually take in to pay for these things you need to survive, not some imaginary compensation number the government or your employer declares your actually salary was. When your rent in actual dollars, and the cost of food doubles in actual dollars, and the price of gas triples in actual dollars, nothing matters less than the BLS declaration that your compensation went up $10,000 because the health insurance your job offers you (that you can't afford to use because of the massive deductible) is now worth $20,000 instead of the $10,000 they said it was worth last year.