Dry Question Which Does Not Lend Itself to Catchy Title (Hey, Prove Me Wrong!)

June 22, 2009 4:15 PM

If an employee makes $9.50 an hour, how much is his employer out of pocket, per hour, once you add in Social Security, Medicare, worker's comp, etc.? Please assume the employee has no benefits and no retirement contributions. This is just hourly wage + other mandatory payments.
posted by HotToddy to work & money (7 answers total)

what state are you in?
posted by jessica at 4:18 PM on June 22, 2009

Idaho.
posted by HotToddy at 4:21 PM on June 22, 2009

FICA match is 6.2%
Medicare match is 1.45%
other mandatory payments include state and federal unemployment tax:

"The FUTA rate is 6.2 %, but you can take a credit of up to 5.4% for SUTA taxes that you pay. If you are eligible for the maximum credit your FUTA rate will be 0.8%. The wage base for FUTA is $7,000. You will stop paying FUTA for each employee once his or her wages exceed $7,000 for the year. You will need to check with your state about SUTA tax rates and the wage base. Generally, your SUTA tax rate is based on the amount of unemployment claims that are filed by employees that you have terminated. When your business is new, your SUTA tax rate starts at the maximum and declines if you build a history of few claims."

http://www.alllaw.com/articles/tax/article5.asp
posted by @troy at 4:21 PM on June 22, 2009

Excellent paycheck calculator: http://www.paycheckcity.com/netpaycalc/netpaycalculator.asp
posted by MediaMer at 4:30 PM on June 22, 2009 [2 favorites]

The "etc" in your question throws in a lot of variables, if that includes other employee benefits, it could have a huge impact on the number...
posted by HuronBob at 6:14 PM on June 22, 2009

It depends on the industry, of course, but a very broad rule of thumb is about 1.5x base wage. Maybe higher if you start counting in other costs of employment like payroll costs and administration costs and city taxes (at least in Chicago, they charge a head tax based on the number of employees).
posted by gjc at 6:21 PM on June 22, 2009

FYI - worker's comp rates vary significantly with industry/job description.
posted by robinpME at 11:20 AM on June 23, 2009