For release 10:00 a.m. (ET) Thursday, September 23, 2021                                             USDL-21-1690

Technical information:  (202) 691-6199    ncsinfo@bls.gov    www.bls.gov/ebs
Media contact:          (202) 691-5902    pressoffice@bls.gov

                        EMPLOYEE BENEFITS IN THE UNITED STATES – MARCH 2021

Paid sick leave was available to 77 percent of private industry workers in March 2021, the U.S. Bureau of Labor 
Statistics reported today. Among major occupation groups, access to paid sick leave ranged from 59 percent of
workers in service occupations to 93 percent in management, professional, and related occupations. (See table 6.)

Twenty-three percent of private industry workers had access to paid family leave. These benefits were available 
to 12 percent of workers in the lowest 25th percent wage category and 37 percent of workers in the highest 
25th percent wage category. 

Forty-five percent of private industry workers had access to plans that provide a single amount of time off for
workers to use for multiple purposes, such as vacation, illness, or personal leave, referred to as consolidated
leave plans. Twenty-six percent of union workers and 46 percent of nonunion workers had access to consolidated
leave plans. 

Paid sick leave was available to 92 percent of state and local government workers. Eighty-nine percent of workers
with access to paid sick leave earned or accrued a fixed number of sick leave days per year, and ranged from
59 percent of workers in hospitals to 94 percent of workers in elementary and secondary schools. Ten percent had 
access to sick leave as part of a consolidated leave plan. 

Paid vacations were available to 77 percent of civilian workers. On average, 13 paid vacation days were available 
annually to state and local government workers after 1 year of service and 22 days were available to workers
after 20 years of service. At establishments with less than 100 employees, 22 paid vacation days were available
to state and local government workers after 20 years of service, while 17 days were available to private
industry workers after 20 years of service. 

Health care benefits were available to 71 percent of private industry workers and 54 percent of workers
participated in the benefit, resulting in a 77 percent take-up rate. The take-up rate refers to the percentage of
workers with access to and participating in the employer-sponsored benefit. Eighty-nine percent of state and
local government workers had access to health care benefits, with a take-up rate of 88 percent. 

Dental care benefits were available to 40 percent of private industry workers and 60 percent of state and local
government workers. 

The take-up rate for vision care benefits was 78 percent for state and local government workers. Vision care
benefits were available to 24 percent of nonunion workers and 56 percent of union workers. 

Private industry workers 
  * Paid family leave was available to 11 percent of part-time workers and 27 percent of full-time workers. 
  * Within professional and business services, access to paid vacations ranged from 63 percent of workers in
    administrative and waste services to 93 percent of workers in professional and technical services.
  * Medical care benefits were available to 68 percent of nonunion workers and 95 percent of union workers. 
    The take-up rate was 65 percent for nonunion workers and 81 percent for union workers. 
  * Employers paid 78 percent of medical care premiums for single coverage plans and 66 percent for family
    coverage plans. The average flat monthly premium paid by employers was $475.69 for single coverage and 
    $1,174.00 for family coverage. 

State and local government workers 
  * Paid vacation days were available to 53 percent of local government workers and 86 percent of state
    government workers. 
  * Medical care benefits were available to 72 percent of workers in the lowest 25th percent wage category and
    95 percent in the highest 25th percent wage category.
  * Retirement benefits were available to 92 percent of workers, with a take-up rate of 89 percent.
    Seventy-five percent of workers participated in defined benefit plans and 18 percent participated in defined
    contribution plans.
  * Long-term disability benefits were available to 39 percent of workers, with a take-up rate of 97 percent.
    Sixteen percent of workers in the New England census division had access to long-term disability benefits and
    62 percent of workers in the Mountain division had access. 

Civilian workers 
  * Paid holidays were available to 79 percent of workers. Within education and health services, access to paid
    holidays ranged from 39 percent of workers in elementary and secondary schools to 94 percent of workers in
    hospitals.
  * Forty-three percent of workers participated in defined contribution plans and employee contributions were
    required for 72 percent of these workers.
  * Nonproduction bonuses were available to 22 percent of part-time workers and 46 percent of full-time workers.
  * Thirty-nine percent of workers participated in short-term disability benefits, and 63 percent of these plans
    were insured. Employee contributions were required for 13 percent of these workers. 
  * Flexible work schedules were available to 13 percent of workers. Eight percent of workers in the lowest 25th 
    percent wage category and 23 percent of workers in the highest 25th percent wage category had access to
    flexible work schedules.

Additional March 2021 and historical estimates are available through the database query tool at
www.bls.gov/ncs/ebs/data.htm and additional tables are available at www.bls.gov/ncs/ebs/benefits/2021. 

 _______________________________________________________________________________________________________
|		Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic Impact on March 2021 Benefits Data			|
| The Employee Benefits in the United States reference period was March 2021. No changes in estimation	|
| procedures were necessary due to COVID-19. Additional information is available at 			|
| www.bls.gov/covid19/home.htm.										|
|_______________________________________________________________________________________________________|

                                              TECHNICAL NOTE

Estimates in this release are from the National Compensation Survey (NCS), conducted by the U.S. Department of
Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The NCS provides comprehensive measures of compensation cost levels and
trends and also provides benefits incidence estimates on the percentage of workers with access to and
participating in employer-provided benefit plans.

The Employee Benefits in the United States, March 2021 publication includes additional details on the coverage, 
costs, and provisions of employer-sponsored benefits, and will be published shortly after this news release. See
www.bls.gov/ncs/ebs/benefits for the latest benefits publications. The publication includes the following tables:

-	Table 1: Establishments offering retirement and healthcare benefits (private industry only)
-	Tables 2 – 9: Retirement benefits
-	Tables 10 – 16, 43: Healthcare benefits
-	Tables 17 – 32: Insurance benefits
-	Tables 33 – 40: Leave benefits
-	Table 41: Quality of life benefits
-	Tables 42, 44: Financial benefits
-	Table 45: Unmarried domestic partner benefits
-	Tables 46 – 47: Benefit combinations

Standard errors: Measures of reliability are available for published estimates, which provide users a measure of
the precision of an estimate to ensure that it is within an acceptable range for their intended purpose. For 
further information see www.bls.gov/ncs/ebs/nb_var.htm.

Comparing private and public sector data: Incidence of employee benefits in state and local government should not
be directly compared to private industry. Differences between these sectors stem from factors such as variation in
work activities and occupational structures. Manufacturing and sales, for example, make up a large part of private
industry work activities but are rare in state and local government. Administrative support and professional 
occupations (including teachers) account for two-thirds of the state and local government workforce, compared with
one-half of private industry.

Leave benefits for teachers: Primary, secondary, and special education teachers typically have a work schedule of
37 or 38 weeks per year. Because of this work schedule, they are generally not offered vacations or holidays. In
many cases, the time off during winter and spring breaks during the school year are not considered vacation days
for the purposes of this survey.

Medical plan premiums: The estimates for medical plan premiums are not based on actual decisions regarding medical
coverage made by employees; instead they are based on the assumption that all employees in the occupation can opt
for single or family coverage. Monthly premiums are collected when possible. Annual premiums are converted to
monthly premiums by dividing by 12 months. The share of premiums paid by employers and employees include workers
with and without contribution requirements.

Sample rotation: One-third of the private industry sample is rotated each year except in years when the government
sample is replaced. The government sample is replaced less frequently than the private industry sample. The state
and local government sample was replaced in its entirety for the March 2017 reference period.

Sample size:

Survey scope:

Average hourly wage percentiles: Estimates by worker average wage are grouped into six wage categories- the lowest
10 percent, the lowest 25 percent, the second 25 percent, the third 25 percent, the highest 25 percent, and the
highest 10 percent. The categories use percentile values based on unpublished March 2021 wages and salaries from
the BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation publication.

The percentiles are computed using hourly wages and salaries along with scheduled hours of work reported for 
individual workers in sampled establishments. Establishments in the survey are asked to report only individual 
worker wages and salaries for each sampled job. For the calculation of the percentile values, the individual
worker hourly wages and salaries are weighted and arrayed from lowest to highest. The values corresponding to the
percentiles are:

The lowest 10- and 25-percent wage categories include those occupations with an average hourly rate less than the
10th percentile value and 25th percentile value, respectively. The second 25-percent category includes those 
occupations with rates at or above the 25th percentile value but less than the 50th percentile value. The third
25-percent category includes those occupations with rates at or above the 50th percentile value but less than the
75th percentile value. Finally, the highest 25- and 10-percent wage categories include those occupations with an
average hourly wage greater than or equal to the 75th percentile value and 90th percentile value, respectively.

Individual workers can fall into a wage category different from the average for the occupation into which they are
classified because average hourly wages for the occupation are used to produce the benefit estimates.

Obtaining information: For articles on employee benefits, see the Monthly Labor Review benefits section at 
www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/subject/b.htm and Beyond the Numbers: Pay and Benefits at
www.bls.gov/opub/btn/archive/home.htm. The Economics Daily article archive is available at
www.bls.gov/opub/ted/employee-benefits-survey.htm. For technical information, see "National Compensation 
Measures," in the BLS Handbook of Methods at www.bls.gov/opub/hom/ncs/home.htm.

Benefit publications from 1980 to the present are also available at www.bls.gov/ncs/ncspubs.htm. The 
latest glossary of benefit terms is available at 
www.bls.gov/ncs/ebs/national-compensation-survey-glossary-of-employee-benefit-terms.htm. In addition,
the public databases may also be used to obtain data from 1985 to 2006 and 2010 to the present, see
www.bls.gov/ncs/ebs/data.htm.

Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request.
Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Federal Relay Service: (800) 877-8339.