I am a small business owner and am considering hiring someone to do
office work at minimum wage. Is there a way to calculate how much this
will cost me per hour factoring in social security, etc.? I am in
Oklahoma if it matters.

Hi there!

Joe Hadzima's article in MIT's Business Journal suggests the following
when calculating the actual cost of an employee (assuming basic wage
and employment taxes, no benefits.):

Start with the basic wage.  Then factor in:

- 6.2% of that for FICA/Social Security
- 1.45% for Medicare
- .3% (minimum for clerical) for Worker's Compensation
- 6.2% on $7,000 salary for Unemployment Compensation/FUTA

Mr. Hadzima also discusses the costs to factor in for benefits, space
and equipment in a latter portion of the article.

"How Much Does and Employee Cost?"
[ http://web.mit.edu/entforum/www/hadzima/employee_cost.htm ]

For statistics and averages by state, and other information useful to
employers, have a look at the Bureau of Labor Statistics:

Bureau of Labor Statistics
[ http://www.bls.gov/home.htm ]

Good luck!

missy-ga

Thanks. I had searched the web without results on my own. This is very helpful.

In addition to exploring the information provided by missy_ga, you
might be interested in looking at federal tax credit programs:
  http://workforcesecurity.doleta.gov/employ/tax.asp
A quick summary of such can be seen at 
  Welfare-to-Work and Work Opportunity Tax Credits
  http://www.businesspartners.org/employer_incentives.htm