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Labor Burden Calculator
Calculate employment costs beyond base wages, the burden percentage, and loaded costs per paid or productive hour using your own assumptions.
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01 / EnterThese are editable examples, not recommended rates. Enter your own numbers.
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02 / UnderstandLoading the example calculation…
Show the math
Estimates use unrounded numbers. Displayed amounts round to cents.
What this means
Labor burden emphasizes the additional cost of employment beyond base wages. Its percentage uses annual base wages as the denominator. Loaded cost per paid hour uses all paid hours; cost per productive hour uses only the productive hours you supply.
Worked example
At an illustrative $25/hour for 2,000 paid hours, wages are $50,000. If you enter 10% employer payroll costs, $4,000 benefits, and $1,000 insurance, additional costs are $10,000. Burden is 20%; loaded cost is $60,000 or $30/paid hour. With 1,500 productive hours it is $40/productive hour. The 10% is only a worked-example input.
How the math works
Base wages = hourly wage × paid hours. Additional costs = base wages × employer payroll percentage / 100 + benefits + insurance + other costs. Total loaded cost = wages + additional costs. Burden (%) = additional costs ÷ wages × 100. Each hourly cost = total loaded cost ÷ its named hours.
About this estimate
One employee and one year. No tax or insurance rate is supplied automatically. Enter each expense once and exclude general business overhead. This model does not separately calculate overtime premiums; annual wages are wage × paid hours. Productive hours must be a subset of paid hours. Optional cost blanks mean zero; blank productive hours omits that metric.
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Formula v1.0.0 · Reviewed · Tool ID: labor-burden