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Employee Benefits Survey
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Standard Errors
Retirement benefits: Access, participation, and take-up rates

Table 2. Standard errors for retirement benefits: Access, participation, and take-up rates,1 State and local government
workers, National Compensation Survey, March 2011

Characteristics

All retirement benefits2

Defined benefit

Defined contribution

Access

Participation

Take-up
rate

Access

Participation

Take-up
rate

Access

Participation

Take-up
rate

All workers

0.6

0.7

0.4

0.9

0.9

1.0

1.5

1.1

2.6

Worker characteristics

                  

Management, professional, and related

0.6

0.6

0.5

0.9

1.1

1.2

1.8

1.3

2.9

    Professional and related

0.5

0.6

0.5

0.9

1.1

1.2

1.7

1.3

2.9

        Teachers

0.8

0.9

0.5

1.1

1.2

1.0

1.8

1.4

3.2

            Primary, secondary, and special education
             school teachers

0.3

0.5

0.4

0.3

0.6

0.5

1.9

1.2

3.4

Service

1.5

1.5

0.6

1.8

1.7

0.8

1.7

1.1

2.9

    Protective service

1.0

1.3

0.8

2.1

2.1

0.7

2.7

1.9

4.4

Sales and office

1.5

1.7

0.9

2.0

1.9

1.7

2.2

1.8

3.7

    Office and administrative support

1.3

1.5

0.9

1.9

1.7

1.7

2.2

1.8

3.9

Natural resources, construction, and maintenance

1.9

2.2

1.3

2.8

2.8

1.2

3.2

2.2

4.4

Production, transportation, and material moving

4.2

4.1

0.9

4.4

4.3

0.8

3.4

2.7

5.5

Full time

0.3

0.5

0.4

0.8

1.0

1.1

1.7

1.2

2.6

Part time

1.8

1.7

1.2

1.8

1.8

1.2

0.8

0.6

4.4

Union

0.4

0.6

0.5

0.6

0.9

0.9

1.9

1.5

3.3

Nonunion

1.0

1.1

0.6

1.6

1.3

1.4

2.0

1.4

3.3

Average wage within the following categories:3

                  

    Lowest 25 percent

1.6

1.7

0.7

2.0

2.0

0.8

2.3

1.5

3.2

        Lowest 10 percent

2.5

2.6

1.1

3.2

3.2

1.2

2.5

1.9

4.7

    Second 25 percent

0.6

1.0

0.8

1.3

1.7

1.8

2.3

1.8

3.8

    Third 25 percent

1.0

1.1

0.6

1.3

1.3

1.2

2.1

1.3

3.1

    Highest 25 percent

0.3

0.5

0.4

0.9

1.0

1.0

1.6

1.4

2.5

        Highest 10 percent

0.4

0.7

0.6

1.6

1.9

1.5

2.0

1.9

3.5

Establishment characteristics

                  

Service-providing industries

0.6

0.7

0.4

0.9

0.9

1.0

1.5

1.1

2.6

    Education and health services

0.5

0.7

0.5

0.9

1.3

1.7

1.9

1.4

2.8

        Educational services

0.6

0.7

0.5

0.8

1.2

1.4

1.8

1.2

2.9

            Elementary and secondary schools

0.5

0.6

0.4

0.5

0.7

0.5

1.7

0.9

3.0

            Junior colleges, colleges, and universities

1.7

2.2

1.5

2.8

3.2

5.6

3.9

3.2

4.0

        Health care and social assistance

1.1

1.5

1.4

3.9

3.5

4.6

3.8

3.5

3.9

            Hospitals

1.3

2.1

2.0

5.0

4.4

6.8

4.6

4.1

4.1

    Public administration

1.2

1.3

0.7

1.4

1.5

0.8

2.3

1.7

4.4

1 to 99 workers

2.2

2.3

0.8

3.0

3.1

1.0

3.2

2.6

3.9

    1 to 49 workers

3.5

3.6

1.3

4.1

4.2

1.6

3.1

2.8

5.7

    50 to 99 workers

2.5

2.9

1.2

3.2

3.3

1.0

5.0

3.9

6.4

100 workers or more

0.5

0.7

0.5

0.9

0.9

1.2

1.6

1.1

2.7

    100 to 499 workers

1.3

1.3

0.5

1.6

1.6

0.6

2.4

1.7

3.6

    500 workers or more

0.5

0.8

0.5

0.9

1.2

1.4

1.8

1.3

2.9

State government

0.9

1.4

0.9

1.7

2.6

3.3

3.1

2.8

4.9

Local government

0.7

0.7

0.4

0.9

0.9

0.4

1.4

0.9

2.1

Geographic areas

                  

New England

2.8

3.3

1.2

4.9

5.5

1.2

–

–

–

Middle Atlantic

0.9

2.0

1.4

0.7

2.2

2.2

2.4

1.5

2.1

East North Central

1.9

2.0

0.8

2.3

2.4

1.0

4.1

3.4

6.1

West North Central

1.5

2.0

1.4

6.1

5.4

9.9

7.3

–

–

South Atlantic

1.4

1.5

1.3

1.4

1.3

1.5

4.5

1.7

4.4

East South Central

2.9

3.7

2.5

4.5

4.1

2.6

5.9

4.2

10.6

West South Central

2.7

2.7

0.4

2.2

2.2

0.3

2.1

2.0

3.7

Mountain

2.0

1.7

1.2

2.9

3.1

0.9

4.0

4.0

8.7

Pacific

1.1

1.2

0.5

1.7

1.7

0.5

3.5

3.4

2.2

1The take-up rate is an estimate of the percentage of workers with access to a plan who participate in the plan, rounded for presentation. See Technical Note for more details.

2Includes defined benefit pension plans and defined contribution retirement plans. Workers are considered as having access or as participating if they have access to or are participating
in at least one of these plan types.

3The categories are based on the average wage for each occupation surveyed, which may include workers with earnings both above and below the threshold. The average wages are
based on the estimates published in the "National Compensation Survey: Occupational Earnings in the United States, 2010." 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/glossary20102011.htm.