Depends on the country and depends on the state. E.g. in California the basic overhead in terms of taxes payed by the employer is slightly below 10%. Then the personal income tax is 13%. You have to include other costs like matching 401k, medical premiums, other operational costs associated with each employee. $200k doesn't seem that outrageous from the employer POV since the employee is left with around $120k at the end of the day.