Employee Benefits Survey

Table 7. Standard errors for frozen defined benefit retirement plans:1 Plan alternatives, civilian
workers,2 National Compensation Survey, March 2009

Characteristics

No
alternative to
frozen plans

Alternatives
to frozen
plans
available

Alternatives for employees in frozen plans3

New defined
benefit plan

Enhanced
existing
defined
contribution
plan

New defined
contribution
plan

Other

All workers

0.7

0.7

2.2

1.8

2.8

0.4

Worker characteristics

Management, professional, and related

0.7

0.7

2.8

1.7

3.0

0.8

    Management, business, and financial

1.6

1.6

3.2

3.3

3.5

1.5

    Professional and related

0.5

0.5

3.0

1.7

3.5

Teachers:
   Primary, secondary, and special education 
   school teachers

0.0

1.3

3.4

    Protective service

0.0

5.2

Sales and office

1.4

1.4

2.4

3.7

4.5

    Office and administrative support

1.8

1.8

3.6

3.9

5.8

Natural resources, construction, and maintenance

1.2

1.2

4.6

2.8

4.7

    Construction, extraction, farming, fishing, and
     forestry

2.1

2.1

6.9

6.5

Production, transportation, and material moving

2.3

2.3

3.3

3.3

4.5

    Transportation and material moving

1.6

1.6

6.0

6.3

6.9

Full time

0.7

0.7

2.2

1.6

2.7

0.4

Part time

0.8

0.8

3.9

7.0

Union

0.3

0.3

4.1

0.9

4.7

Nonunion

1.0

1.0

1.5

2.6

3.2

0.6

Wage percentiles:4

    Second 25 percent

1.9

1.9

3.0

2.9

3.5

    Third 25 percent

1.3

1.3

3.3

2.5

3.3

    Highest 25 percent

0.6

0.6

2.7

1.6

2.7

0.7

    Highest 10 percent

0.7

0.7

3.3

2.4

3.5

Establishment characteristics

Goods-producing industries

2.1

2.1

3.5

3.5

5.5

Service-providing industries

0.7

0.7

2.6

2.2

3.2

    Education and health services

0.6

0.6

6.9

0.7

6.7

      Educational services:
         Elementary and secondary schools

0.0

1.3

3.0

    Public administration

0.0

2.3

1 to 99 workers

0.7

0.7

3.2

5.9

5.3

1.0

    1 to 49 workers

1.4

1.4

9.0

8.2

2.2

    50 to 99 workers

0.0

5.4

7.7

7.5

100 workers or more

0.8

0.8

2.4

1.7

3.0

    100 to 499 workers

1.7

1.7

3.6

3.5

5.6

    500 workers or more

0.9

0.9

2.8

1.6

3.0

Geographic areas

Middle Atlantic

1.9

1.9

2.4

2.9

3.7

East North Central

0.9

0.9

4.4

3.6

4.6

South Atlantic

2.5

2.5

3.8

3.7

3.6

Mountain

0.0

21.5

1Plans closed to new workers or plans that cease accruals for some or all plan participants.

2Includes workers in the private nonfarm economy except those in private households, and workers in the public sector, except the federal
government. See Technical Note for further explanation.

3The sum of the individual components may be greater than the total because some employers offer more than one alternative.

4The percentile groupings are based on the average wage for each occupation surveyed, which may include workers both above and below the
threshold. The percentile values are based on the estimates published in the "National Compensation Survey: Occupational Earnings in the United States,
2008." See Technical Note for more details.

NOTE: Dash indicates no workers in this category or data did not meet publication criteria. For definitions of major plans, key provisions, and related terms,
see the "Glossary of Employee Benefit Terms" at www.bls.gov/ncs/ebs/glossary20082009.htm.