November 12, 1999 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Prevalence of paid sick leave

Over half of full-time employees in medium and large private establishments are eligible to receive paid sick leave.

Percent of full-time employees with paid sick leave benefit in medium and large private establishments, by occupation, 1997
[Chart data—TXT]

In 1997, 56 percent of employees in medium and large private establishments were covered by a paid sick-leave benefit. There was notable variation in coverage by occupation. While 73 percent of professional and technical employees and of clerical and sales employees were covered, only 38 percent of blue-collar and service employees were.

There was also variation by occupation in the amount of annual paid sick leave an employee was eligible for. After 10 years of service, for example, professional and technical employees were eligible for 23 days on average, clerical and sales employees for 17, and blue-collar and service employees for 13.

These data are from the BLS

Employee Benefits Survey. Learn more in Employee Benefits in Medium and Large Establishments, 1997, BLS Bulletin 2517(PDF 804 K). Sick leave data presented here are for full-time employees.

Of interest

Spotlight on Statistics: The Recession of 2007–2009

The most recent recession in the United States began in December 2007 and ended in June 2009, though many of the statistics that describe the U.S. economy have yet to return to their pre-recession values. In this Spotlight, we present BLS data that compare the recent recession to previous recessions. Read more »