Employee Benefits in the United States News Release

For release 10:00 a.m. (ET) Thursday, September 19, 2024                                             USDL-24-1921

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 2024


Medical care benefits were available to 72 percent of private industry workers and 89 percent of state 
and local government workers in March 2024, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Forty-
three percent of private industry workers had access to dental benefits and 60 percent of state and local 
government workers had access. Twenty-eight percent of private industry workers had access to vision 
benefits while 39 percent of state and local government workers had access. (See table 2.) 

For private industry workers participating in medical plans with single coverage, the employer share of 
premiums was 80 percent and the employee share was 20 percent. State and local government workers 
participating in medical plans with single coverage saw 86 percent of premiums covered by employers 
and 14 percent by employees. For family coverage, employers paid 68 percent of premiums for private 
industry workers and 71 percent for state and local government workers. Thirty-two percent of 
premiums were funded by the employee for family coverage among private industry workers. For state 
and local government workers, employees covered 29 percent of such plans. (See tables 3 and 4.)  

Seventy-nine percent of private industry workers and 92 percent of state and local government workers 
had access to paid sick leave. Eighty-one percent of private industry workers and 68 percent of state and 
local government workers had access to paid holidays. Paid personal leave is defined as a leave benefit, 
used for reasons important to the individual employee, but not otherwise provided by other forms of 
leave (for example, sick leave, vacations, and holidays). This benefit was available to 49 percent of 
private industry workers and 62 percent of state and local government workers. (See table 6.)

For private industry workers in establishments with 1 to 99 employees, the average number of annual 
paid vacation days for workers was 10 days after 1 year of employment, 14 days after 5 years, 16 days 
after 10 years, and 17 days after 20 years. For private industry workers in establishments with 500 or 
more employees, the average number of annual paid vacation days for workers was 14 days after 1 year 
of employment, 18 days after 5 years, 21 days after 10 years, and 24 days after 20 years. 

In the West Census region, 53 percent of private industry workers and 81 percent of state and local 
government workers had access to life insurance. Long-term disability insurance was available to 34 
percent of private industry workers and 48 percent of state and local government workers in this region. 
Thirty-six percent of private industry workers and 30 percent of state and local government workers had 
access to short-term disability insurance in the West Census region. (See table 5.)

Highlights of employer-sponsored benefits

Occupational group
	* Access to medical care benefits ranged from 52 percent for service occupations to 94 percent for 
	  management, business, and financial occupations among civilian workers.
	* Eighty-three percent of teachers had access to medical care benefits and 60 percent participated 
	  among civilian workers. 
	* Among state and local government workers, 92 percent of teachers had access to medical care 
	  benefits and the take-up rate for these benefits was 74 percent.

Work status
	* Eighty-nine percent of full-time civilian workers had access to medical care benefits and 26 
	  percent of part-time workers had access to medical care benefits. The take-up rate was 66 percent 
	  for full-time workers and 46 percent for part-time workers.
	* Ninety-nine percent of full-time state and local government workers had access to retirement 
	  benefits and 89 percent participated, while 43 percent of part-time workers had access to 
	  retirement benefits and 37 percent participated.
	* In the private industry, 87 percent of full-time workers had access to medical care benefits and 
	  the take-up rate was 65 percent. Twenty-six percent of part-time workers had access to these 
	  benefits and the take-up rate was 45 percent.

Industry group
	* Eighty-five percent of workers in goods-producing industries had access to medical care benefits 
	  and 70 percent of workers in service-providing industries had access among private industry 
	  workers.
	* Within education and health services, 75 percent of workers had access to medical care benefits 
	  and 44 percent of workers participated in such benefits for private industry workers.
	* Eighty-nine percent of state and local government workers in service-providing industries had 
	  access to medical care benefits and the take-up rate was 75 percent.

Establishment size
	* Access to medical care benefits among all civilian workers ranged from 56 percent for 
	  establishments with less than 50 workers to 91 percent for establishments with 500 workers or more.
	* Take-up rates among all civilian workers were 60 percent for establishments with less than 50 
	  workers, 60 percent for establishments with 50 to 99 workers, 68 percent for establishments with 
	  100 or more workers, 66 percent for establishments with 100 to 499 workers, and 70 percent for 
	  establishments with 500 workers or more.

Census area
	* Medical care benefits access among private industry workers by Census region was 73 percent in 
	  the Northeast, 71 percent in the Midwest, 71 percent in the South, and 74 percent in the West. 
	  Take-up rates for medical care benefits ranged from 61 percent in the South to 66 percent in the 
	  Midwest.
	* Breaking these numbers down further by Census division, access to medical care benefits in the 
	  Pacific division was 76 percent for private industry workers. The access rate was 68 percent for 
	  workers in the East South Central division. 

                                              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. 

Employee Benefits data: The Employee Benefits in the United States, March 2024 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/ebs/publications/annual-benefits-summary.htm for the 
latest benefits publications. Historical estimates are also accessible in Excel format at 
www.bls.gov/ebs/publications/xlsx/employee-benefits-in-the-united-states-dataset.xlsx and through the 
database query tool at www.bls.gov/ebs/data.htm.  

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/ebs/technical-notes/standard-errors.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.

Civilian workers: Statistics for private industry and state and local government are published separately 
and then combined to measure the civilian economy. Excluded from the civilian economy are workers 
employed in federal government and quasi-federal agencies, military personnel, agricultural workers, 
volunteers, unpaid workers, individuals receiving long-term disability compensation, and those working 
overseas. In addition, private industry excludes workers in private households, the self-employed, 
workers who set their own pay (e.g., proprietors, owners, major stockholders, and partners in 
unincorporated firms), and family members paid token wages.

Leave benefits for teachers: Primary, secondary, and special education teachers typically have a 
contracted 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 care premiums: The estimates for medical care premiums are not based on actual decisions 
regarding medical coverage made by employees; instead, it is assumed 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.

Sample rotation: One-third of the private industry sample is rotated each year except in years when the 
government sample is replaced. For the March 2022 and 2023 publications, however, an additional 
(fourth) private industry sample was used in estimation to mitigate the impact of decreasing response 
rates. 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.

Classification system: The National Compensation Survey publishes estimates of compensation costs
and trends as well as benefit coverage by ownership, industry group, occupational group, and
geographic areas, see www.bls.gov/eci/factsheets/national-compensation-survey-classification-systems-
mapping-files.htm.


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 2024 wages and salaries from the BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation
publication at www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/ecec_06182024.pdf.

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 articles 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/ebs/publications/annual-
benefits-summary.htm. The latest glossary of benefit terms is available at
www.bls.gov/ebs/publications/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/ebs/data.htm.

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