A recent benchmarking survey revealed which types of companies are spending the most – and the least – per covered employee for healthcare benefits.

These industries spent the most per covered employee in 2010 (the most recent data available):

• Utilities ($20,567 on average)
• Insurance ($14,132)
• Real estate ($11,554)
• Government ($11,406)
• Manufacturing ($11,114)

These industries spent the least:

• Telecommunications ($5,626)
• Publishing, broadcasting and other media ($6,171)
• Accommodation and food services ($6,355)
• Arts, entertainment and recreation ($6,549)
• Business support services ($7,188)

This data comes from the 2011 Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Health Care Benchmarking Survey, which received responses from 2,558 HR pros.

Here are the number of respondents SHRM received from the industries listed above:

• Utilities — 19
• Insurance — 64
• Real estate — 38
• Government — 180
• Manufacturing — 263
• Telecommunications — 44
• Publishing, broadcasting and other media — 33
• Accommodations and food service — 39
• Arts, entertainment and recreation — 30
• Business support services — 81

Tags: benchmarking, health insurance, spending