An official website of the United States government

The .gov means it's official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you're on a federal government site.

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Bureau of Labor Statistics > Employee Benefits > Publications > Factsheets

Flexible work schedule and student loan repayment benefits

In 1980, the Bureau of Labor Statistics published the Employee Benefits in Industry from a pilot survey of private sector benefit plans. The pilot survey included information on hours and days per week worked, paid and unpaid lunch and rest time, and paid leave.

Annually, the National Compensation Survey (NCS) program publishes statistics on the costs, coverage, and provisions of employer sponsored benefits. In order to produce relevant statistics about the national economy, the NCS periodically evaluates emerging trends in compensation and modifies the National Compensation Survey and methodologies.

Two benefits were published for the first time with a June 2019 reference period¹: flexible work scheduleand student loan repayment. While the data reflected the percentage of workers with access (available for their use) to these benefits, the it did not include additional details about the type of flexible hours arrangements available to workers, employee participation, eligibility requirements, or the average dollar or maximum amounts employers may reimburse for tuition. Starting with the March 2020 publication, these benefits are included in the annual Employee Benefits in the United States publication as part of the quality of life and financial benefits.

In March 2024, 6 percent of civilian workers (includes private industry, as well as state and local government workers) had access to student loan repayment and 15 percent had access to flexible work schedules. (See chart 1.)

Chart 1 data table

Table 1. Percent of civilian workers with access to student loan repayment assistance and flexible work schedules, March 2024
Year	Flexible work schedule	Student loan repayment
2021	13	4
2022	14	4
2023	15	5
2024	15	6
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Compensation Survey

Flexible work schedule

For the purposes of the NCS, if workers are able to set their own schedules within a general set of parameters, they have access to flexible work schedule benefits.

For example, employees may be required to work a minimum of five hours per workday, but work can be performed anytime between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Workers may also have a compressed work schedule available to them, where they may work longer hours each day but fewer days in a week (e.g., employees work four ten-hour days).

Among private industry workers in March 2024, a flexible work schedule was available to 30 percent of workers in management, professional, and related occupations. Eleven percent of service workers, 17 percent of sales and office workers, 6 percent of natural resources, construction, and maintenance workers, and 7 percent of production, transportation, and material moving workers had access to a flexible work schedule. Eight percent of state and local government workers had access to a flexible work schedule. (See chart 2.)

Chart 2 data table

Table 2. Annual deductible amount for private industry workers participating in medical plans, March 2024
Occupation	Private industry workers	State and local government workers
All workers	17	8
Management, professional and related	30	8
Sales and office	17	12
Service	11	5
Production, transportation, and material moving	7	8
Natural resources, construction, and maintenance	6	7
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Compensation Survey

Among private industry workers in March 2021, 16 percent of full-time workers and 11 percent of part-time workers had access to flexible work schedules. In March 2024, 18 percent of full-time workers and 12 percent of part-time workers had access to flexible work schedules. (See chart 3.)

Chart 3 data table

Table 3. Percent of private industry workers with access to flexible work schedule by work status, March 2024
Work status	Full-time	Part-time
2021	16	11
2022	17	11
2023	17	13
2024	18	12
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Compensation Survey

Student loan repayment

Student loan repayment is considered available to employees when employers provide monetary support to employees for education they already obtained. Ongoing educational expenses are not included in the access estimates.

Among civilian workers, 3 percent of the lowest 25th average wage category and 10 percent of the highest 25th average wage category had access to student loan repayment in March 2024. (See chart 4.)

Chart 4 data table

Table 4. Percent of civilian workers with access to student loan repayment assistance by average wage category, March 2024
Average wage category	Percentage
All workers	6
Lowest 25 percent	3
Second 25 percent	5
Third 25 percent	8
Highest 25 percent	10
Highest 10 percent	12
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Compensation Survey

Access to student loan repayment assistance among private industry groups ranged from 2 percent for workers in construction to 12 percent for workers in information in March 2024. (See chart 5.)

Chart 5 data table

Table 5. Percent of private industry workers with access to student loan repayment by industry group, March 2024
Industry group	Percentage
All workers	6
Information	12
Education and health services	11
Financial activities	10
Manufacturing	6
Professional and business services	6
Other services (except public administration)	3
Leisure and hospitality	3
Trade, transportation, and utilities	3
Construction	2
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Compensation Survey

Estimates are available for civilian workers, private industry workers, and state and local government workers by worker and establishment characteristics, and geographic areas. For more information, see the Classification Systems Used by the National Compensation Survey (NCS) page.

More information

Estimates on the cost, coverage, and provisions of employer–sponsored benefit plans from 2010 to the present are available through the Excel dataset and public database. Benefit estimates are not a time series and users are advised to consider changes in survey design, survey scope, estimation methods, weighting, and sample rotation when analyzing the data. Join the BLS Mailing Lists to receive notification of the latest data releases.

The glossary of employee benefit terms provides definitions for plans, provisions, coverage, and related terms. The National Compensation Measures Handbook of Methods provides information on the survey design, calculations, weighting, and imputation methods used to produce compensation estimates. The calculation section includes information on the measures of reliability available for each estimate. Additional information on Employee Benefits can be found in the EBS Publications, Monthly Labor Review, and the questions and answers page.

END NOTES

⁽¹⁾ Flexible work schedule and student loan repayment estimates for the June 2019 reference period are available in Excel.

Last Modified Date: September 19, 2024