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Access to paid sick leave, vacations, and holidays varies by wage category

July 28, 2016

Among workers in private industry, 64 percent had access to paid sick leave in March 2016. Workers in lower wage categories were less likely to have access to paid sick leave than more highly paid workers. For private-industry workers with an average wage in the lowest 10 percent, 27 percent had access to paid sick leave; among workers with an average wage in the highest 10 percent, 87 percent had access to paid sick leave.

 

 

Percentage of workers in private industry and state and local government with access to paid leave benefits, by wage category, March 2016
Wage category Sick Leave Vacation Holidays

All private industry workers

64% 76% 77%

Private industry, lowest 10 percent

27 41 40

Private industry, lowest 25 percent

39 50 52

Private industry, second 25 percent

65 81 82

Private industry, third 25 percent

75 88 89

Private industry, highest 25 percent

84 91 92

Private industry, highest 10 percent

87 92 93

All state and local government workers

90 59 67

State and local, lowest 10 percent

65 43 49

State and local, lowest 25 percent

77 57 64

State and local, second 25 percent

94 84 87

State and local, third 25 percent

93 65 74

State and local, highest 25 percent

97 35 48

State and local, highest 10 percent

98 33 45

Paid vacations were available to 76 percent of private industry workers in March 2016, and paid holidays were available to 77 percent. As with paid sick leave, lower-paid workers in private industry were less likely than higher-paid workers to have access to paid vacations and paid holidays.

State and local government workers were more likely than workers in private industry to have access to paid sick leave but less likely to have access to paid vacations and holidays. As with workers in private industry, state and local government workers in the lower wage categories were less likely to have access to paid sick leave than workers in higher wage categories. This was not the case for paid vacations and holidays, however. State and local government workers in the middle wage categories were more likely to have access to paid vacations and holidays than workers in lower and higher wage categories.

These data are from the National Compensation Survey — Benefits program. For more information, see “Employee Benefits in the United States — March 2016” (HTML) (PDF).

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Access to paid sick leave, vacations, and holidays varies by wage category at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2016/access-to-paid-sick-leave-vacations-and-holidays-varies-by-wage-category.htm (visited March 19, 2024).

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