# Labor percentage calculator: Trade Labor Cost Benchmark

> The median published figure in the Trade Labor Cost Benchmark is 37.38 USD across 4 sources' own pages in USD (range 22.42 to 46.89 USD; 6 sources publish a figure), read 12 October 2026.

BurdenRateLedger · https://burdenrateledger.com/datasets/trade-labor-cost-benchmark/ · computed 2026-10-18

**Median published figure:** 37.38 USD (range 22.42 to 46.89 USD; 4 sources with a figure; 6 of 20 sources read publish one).

6 of the 20 named sources read in full publish a figure; 14 publish none, read 12 October 2026.

The median is unchanged since 26 September 2026 (was 37.38 USD across 4).

## By industry and occupation

| Breakdown | Median | Range | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| industry private industry | 46.89 USD | 46.89 to 46.89 USD | 1 |
| industry construction | 41.21 USD | 41.21 to 41.21 USD | 1 |
| industry limited-service restaurants | 31.7 % | 31.7 to 31.7 % | 1 |
| industry restaurants, all segments | 34 % | 34 to 34 % | 1 |
| industry food services and drinking places | 22.42 USD | 22.42 to 22.42 USD | 1 |
| occupation all occupations | 33.54 USD | 33.54 to 33.54 USD | 1 |

## Every figure, with its source

One row per source: the figure the source's own page publishes, the page, and the day it was read.

| Source | Figure | Breakdown | Read |
|---|---|---|---|
| [BLS, Employer Costs for Employee Compensation news release](https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.htm) | 46.89 USD | private industry | 2026-10-12 |
| [BLS, construction at a glance](https://www.bls.gov/iag/tgs/iag23.htm) | 41.21 USD | construction | 2026-09-12 |
| [National Restaurant Association, restaurant operations data report](https://restaurant.org/research-and-media/research/restaurant-economic-insights/analysis-commentary/new-report-provides-operational-data-on-restaurants/) | 34 % | restaurants, all segments | 2026-10-12 |
| [BLS OEWS, national employment and wage data by occupation](https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.t01.htm) | 33.54 USD | all occupations | 2026-10-12 |
| [National Restaurant Association, restaurant labor costs above historical averages](https://restaurant.org/research-and-media/research/restaurant-economic-insights/analysis-commentary/restaurant-labor-costs-are-well-above-historical-averages/) | 31.7 % | limited-service restaurants | 2026-10-12 |
| [BLS, food services and drinking places at a glance](https://www.bls.gov/iag/tgs/iag72.htm) | 22.42 USD | food services and drinking places | 2026-10-12 |

## The sentence each figure was read from (6)

- [BLS, Employer Costs for Employee Compensation news release](https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.htm), read 2026-10-12: "Total employer compensation costs for private industry workers averaged $46.89 per hour worked in June"
- [BLS, construction at a glance](https://www.bls.gov/iag/tgs/iag23.htm), read 2026-09-12: "Average hourly earnings $41.21 $41.36 (p)$41.50 (p)$41.66"
- [National Restaurant Association, restaurant operations data report](https://restaurant.org/research-and-media/research/restaurant-economic-insights/analysis-commentary/new-report-provides-operational-data-on-restaurants/), read 2026-10-12: "Salaries and wages (including benefits) represented a median of 34.0% of sales among limited-service survey respondents."
- [BLS OEWS, national employment and wage data by occupation](https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.t01.htm), read 2026-10-12: "Hourly Annual(1) wages All occupations 155,495,730 $33.54 $69,770 $24.51"
- [National Restaurant Association, restaurant labor costs above historical averages](https://restaurant.org/research-and-media/research/restaurant-economic-insights/analysis-commentary/restaurant-labor-costs-are-well-above-historical-averages/), read 2026-10-12: "Salaries and wages (including benefits) represented a median of 31.7% of sales among limited-service survey respondents."
- [BLS, food services and drinking places at a glance](https://www.bls.gov/iag/tgs/iag72.htm), read 2026-10-12: "Average hourly earnings $22.42 $22.57 $22.42 (p)$22.37"

## Read in full, publishes no figure

- [BLS, ECEC summary](https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.nr0.htm), read 2026-10-12: every candidate on the page was refused
- [BLS, ECEC home](https://www.bls.gov/ecec/), read 2026-10-12: every candidate on the page was refused
- [BLS OEWS tables](https://www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm), read 2026-09-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- [BLS OEWS, national occupational employment and wage estimates](https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm), read 2026-09-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- [BLS OEWS, carpenters (47-2031 series page)](https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes472051.htm), read 2026-09-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- [BLS OEWS, construction labourers](https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes472061.htm), read 2026-10-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- [BLS OEWS, waiters and waitresses](https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes353031.htm), read 2026-09-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- [BLS, Current Employment Statistics](https://www.bls.gov/ces/), read 2026-10-12: every candidate on the page was refused
- [BLS, overview of wage data by area and occupation](https://www.bls.gov/bls/blswage.htm), read 2026-10-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- [US Census Bureau, Annual Survey of Manufactures](https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/asm.html), read 2026-10-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- [ONS, EARN03 average weekly earnings by industry](https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/averageweeklyearningsbyindustryearn03/current), read 2026-10-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- [ONS, EARN01 average weekly earnings](https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/averageweeklyearningsearn01), read 2026-10-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- [Statistics Canada, average hourly wages by industry (table 14-10-0063-01)](https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1410006301), read 2026-10-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- [ABS, average weekly earnings Australia](https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/labour/earnings-and-working-conditions/average-weekly-earnings-australia/latest-release), read 2026-10-12: every candidate on the page was refused

## Methodology

Every row is a verbatim sentence read from the named source's own page through our fetch service on the date shown, hash-pinned to the stored read (the sha of the page's visible text; the raw page is mirrored to R2). 6 of the 20 named sources that could be read published a usable figure; 14 published none and are recorded as not published, never filled in; 0 could not be read (blocked, dead or unreachable) and count nowhere. The headline figures (median, minimum, maximum, quartiles) are over ONE figure per source in USD (a source's median where its page yielded several accepted sentences), so N counts sources, never sentences; 50 candidate sentence(s) were refused by a reviewer with the reason recorded. The fuller derivation this dataset is chartered to grow into (not yet what the figures above are; they are each source's own published figure as read): the benefits-to-wages ratio from the ECEC joined to the OEWS hourly mean for each trade the tools price, giving a LOADED hourly cost per occupation per metro that neither release publishes - BLS publishes the benefit load for broad industry groups and the wage for narrow occupations, and nobody multiplies them - beside the labour-share-of-sales medians by industry segment. Changed-since on each release, and the same joint computed for GB, CA and AU from their national agencies so the comparison is like for like.

## Sources

- [BLS, Employer Costs for Employee Compensation news release](https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.htm) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [BLS, ECEC summary](https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.nr0.htm) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [BLS, ECEC home](https://www.bls.gov/ecec/) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [BLS OEWS, national employment and wage data by occupation](https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.t01.htm) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [BLS OEWS tables](https://www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [BLS OEWS, national occupational employment and wage estimates](https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [BLS OEWS, carpenters (47-2031 series page)](https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes472051.htm) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [BLS OEWS, construction labourers](https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes472061.htm) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [BLS OEWS, waiters and waitresses](https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes353031.htm) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [BLS, construction at a glance](https://www.bls.gov/iag/tgs/iag23.htm) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [BLS, food services and drinking places at a glance](https://www.bls.gov/iag/tgs/iag72.htm) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [BLS, Current Employment Statistics](https://www.bls.gov/ces/) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [BLS, overview of wage data by area and occupation](https://www.bls.gov/bls/blswage.htm) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [US Census Bureau, Annual Survey of Manufactures](https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/asm.html) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [ONS, EARN03 average weekly earnings by industry](https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/averageweeklyearningsbyindustryearn03/current) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [ONS, EARN01 average weekly earnings](https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/averageweeklyearningsearn01) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [Statistics Canada, average hourly wages by industry (table 14-10-0063-01)](https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1410006301) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [ABS, average weekly earnings Australia](https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/labour/earnings-and-working-conditions/average-weekly-earnings-australia/latest-release) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [National Restaurant Association, restaurant labor costs above historical averages](https://restaurant.org/research-and-media/research/restaurant-economic-insights/analysis-commentary/restaurant-labor-costs-are-well-above-historical-averages/) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [National Restaurant Association, restaurant operations data report](https://restaurant.org/research-and-media/research/restaurant-economic-insights/analysis-commentary/new-report-provides-operational-data-on-restaurants/) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)

## Cite or embed

- The median published figure in the Trade Labor Cost Benchmark is 37.38 USD across 4 sources' own pages in USD (range 22.42 to 46.89 USD; 6 sources publish a figure), read 12 October 2026.
- 6 of the 20 named sources read in full publish a figure; 14 publish none, read 12 October 2026.
- Trade Labor Cost Benchmark, industry private industry: median 46.89 USD across 1 source, read 12 October 2026.
- Trade Labor Cost Benchmark, industry construction: median 41.21 USD across 1 source, read 12 October 2026.
- Trade Labor Cost Benchmark, industry limited-service restaurants: median 31.70 percent across 1 source, read 12 October 2026.
- Trade Labor Cost Benchmark, industry restaurants, all segments: median 34 percent across 1 source, read 12 October 2026.
- Trade Labor Cost Benchmark, industry food services and drinking places: median 22.42 USD across 1 source, read 12 October 2026.
- Trade Labor Cost Benchmark, occupation all occupations: median 33.54 USD across 1 source, read 12 October 2026.
- The median is unchanged since 26 September 2026 (was 37.38 USD across 4).

Cite as: "BurdenRateLedger Trade Labor Cost Benchmark", updated 2026-10-18, https://burdenrateledger.com/datasets/trade-labor-cost-benchmark/.

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