This item is the employer's costs for social security tax, unemployment tax, workers' compensation insurance, state disability insurance pension plans, stock purchase plans, union-negotiated benefits, life insurance premiums, and insurance premiums on hospital and medical plans for employees. Also included are the employer's costs for benefits to individual employees such as stock purchase plans, deferred profit-sharing plans, and defined benefit and defined contribution retirement plans. They exclude such items as company-operated cafeterias, in-plant medical services, free parking lots, discounts on employee purchases, and uniforms and work clothing for employees.

Note: Beginning with the 2006 ASM, for employment and related fields (payroll, production hours, benefits), respondents were asked to report only those full- and part-time employees whose payroll was reported on the IRS Form 941 filing for the Employer Identification Number (EIN) used by that manufacturing establishment. Other temporary workers and workers whose payroll was reported under a different company's EIN were reported elsewhere on the form. In 2002, these data constituted between 1 and 1 1/2% of the total for these fields. Comparisons of data prior to 2006 should be used with caution.