Likewise, if a manufacturing factory employs 100 workers for 100 hours during a product run, the manufacturer of that product required 10,000 hours of labor -- 100 workers times 100 hours.
Next, we must determine the total labor costs of the employees working those hours. In the auditing example, one auditor could be a senior team member with a higher salary, payroll taxes, and benefit costs than the two junior members. Each team member's costs should be calculated independently and then added together to get the correct total.
In the manufacturing example, some workers may have special skills that command a higher salary, while others could be unskilled and less expensive. In both cases, it's important to calculate the total aggregate expense for all the workers directly involved, accounting for the variances in their pay, benefits, and taxes to ensure an accurate total cost.
Once you have the total cost, the direct labor rate is calculated by dividing that dollar amount by the total hours of labor calculated earlier.
The result is the direct labor cost per hour for producing that product or delivering that service.
If you're looking for information on stocks, head over to our Broker Center, where we can help you get started investing.
Related investing topics