Employers allocate an increasing amount of employee compensation to healthcare insurance, resulting in lower wages, a HCMS Group study found.
In 2014, more than 300 employers in the study reported their healthcare expenses increased by 10 percent, while their wages increased 4 percent.
Employees who earned less than $30,000 a year felt this discrepancy most, as they saw a half percent increase in wages compared to a 16.6 percent increase in health plan expenses. For employees who earned more than $80,000, that margin shrunk to a 4.2 percent increase in wages and an 8.2 percent increase in health plan expenses.
Many employers opt to pay more toward employee benefits opposed to wages, as the former are tax deductible, according to HCMS Group.
As for employees, a 2016 Employee Benefit Research Institute study found 20 percent of employees would take higher wages over increased benefits. That number increased from 10 percent in 2012, and includes younger individuals willing to trade higher wages for fewer benefits.
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