Made in America: Employer costs for wages, salaries and benefits average $34.14 per hour

Editor’s note: Each Sunday, Talk Business & Politics provides “Made In America,” a round-up of state and global manufacturing news.

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EMPLOYER COSTS FOR WAGES, SALARIES AND BENEFITS AVERAGE $34.14 PER HOUR IN SEPTEMBER

Employer costs for employee compensation averaged $34.15 per hour worked in September 2016, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Wages and salaries averaged $23.42 per hour worked and accounted for 68.6% of these costs, while benefits averaged $10.73 and accounted for the remaining 31.4%.

Total employer compensation costs for private industry workers averaged $32.27 per hour worked in September 2016. Total employer compensation costs for state and local government workers averaged $45.93 per hour worked in September 2016.

Employer costs, a product of the National Compensation Survey, measures employer costs for wages, salaries, and employee benefits for nonfarm private and state and local government workers. Two components of benefit costs are paid leave and legally required benefits.

GENERAL MILLS ANNOUNCES NEW ROUND OF JOBS CUTS, STREAMLINES EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP TEAM

General Mills, a major supplier to Wal-Mart Stores, announced a new companywide restructuring on Dec. 5 as the company streamlines its executive leadership team and cuts between 400-600 jobs globally to improve the company’s growth and financial returns.

Company President and COO Jeff Harmening has assumed global operations responsibilities and will report directly to Chairman and CEO Ken Powell, while the position of International Chief Operating Officer will be eliminated. Effective Jan. 1, 2017, four business groups will report directly to Harmening and will each be led by a Group President.

The new round of job cuts for the Cheerios and Yoplait maker is the latest in the cereal giant’s efforts over the past 2-1/2 years to boost profitability and sales. The new round of cuts and downsizing brings total job cuts since the fall of 2014 to nearly 5,000, which has included the closure of several factories in North America. General Mills operates a large sales office in Rogers.

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION NAMES AUSTRALIAN CHIEF EXECUTIVE TO HEAD AMERICAN MANUFACTURING COUNCIL

President-elect Donald Trump, who recently struck a deal to save 1,000 Carrier jobs in Indiana and has promised to bring thousands of manufacturing jobs back to the U.S., announced on Friday (Dec. 9) that Dow Chemical Chairman and CEO Andrew Liveris will head the American Manufacturing Council during his administration. The council, which is part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, serves as the principal private sector advisory committee to the Commerce Secretary on the U.S. manufacturing sector.

The Council is charged with ensuring regular communication between the federal government and the manufacturing sector, advising the Secretary of Commerce on government policies and programs that affect U.S. manufacturing and provide a forum for discussing and proposing solutions to industry-related problems and to ensure that the U.S. remains the preeminent destination for investment in manufacturing throughout the world.

Liveris, an Australian native who lives in Midland, Mich., has been with the U.S. chemical and manufacturing giant for more than 40 years. In 2015, Dow had nearly $49 billion in annual sales.