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25 percent of private industry workers have no access to medical care or retirement benefits

November 03, 2016

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.

Percent distribution of workers with access to combinations of medical care and retirement benefits, by selected characteristics, private industry, March 2016
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.

SUGGESTED CITATION

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).

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