An official website of the United States government
In March 2016, 25 percent of private industry workers had no access to employer-provided medical care or retirement benefits. Employers offered both medical care and retirement benefits to 58 percent of private industry workers. Nine percent of workers had access to medical care benefits but not retirement benefits, while 8 percent had access to retirement benefits but not medical care benefits.
Characteristics | Medical care and retirement benefits | Medical care and no retirement benefits | Retirement and no medical care benefits | No medical care and no retirement benefits |
---|---|---|---|---|
All workers |
58% | 9% | 8% | 25% |
Employment status |
||||
Full time |
74 | 12 | 3 | 11 |
Part time |
16 | 3 | 21 | 60 |
Union membership |
||||
Union |
88 | 4 | 2 | 5 |
Nonunion |
55 | 10 | 8 | 27 |
Average wage |
||||
Lowest 25 percent |
25 | 8 | 17 | 50 |
Second 25 percent |
59 | 12 | 6 | 23 |
Third 25 percent |
74 | 11 | 4 | 11 |
Highest 25 percent |
84 | 8 | 2 | 6 |
Number of workers in establishment |
||||
1 to 49 workers |
38 | 14 | 9 | 39 |
50 to 99 workers |
56 | 10 | 9 | 25 |
100 to 499 workers |
72 | 7 | 8 | 13 |
500 workers or more |
86 | 3 | 4 | 8 |
Occupation category |
||||
Management, professional, and related |
77 | 9 | 4 | 10 |
Service |
30 | 9 | 11 | 50 |
Sales and office |
57 | 9 | 12 | 22 |
Natural resources, construction, and maintenance |
58 | 14 | 4 | 23 |
Production, transportation, and material moving |
65 | 9 | 5 | 21 |
Note: Due to rounding, the sum of percent distributions may not equal 100. |
Half of the lowest paid 25 percent of private industry workers did not have access to employer-provided medical care or retirement benefits in March 2016. A quarter of those workers were offered both medical and retirement benefits. In contrast, 84 percent of the highest paid 25 percent of workers had access to medical care and retirement benefits. Six percent of those workers did not have access to either medical care or retirement benefits.
These data are from the National Compensation Survey — Benefits program. For more information, see National Compensation Survey: Employee Benefits in the United States, March 2016.
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, 25 percent of private industry workers have no access to medical care or retirement benefits at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2016/25-percent-of-private-industry-workers-have-no-access-to-medical-care-or-retirement-benefits.htm (visited December 10, 2024).