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BLS Reports on Employee Benefits for Private Industry and Public Sector Workers in 2020
On September 24, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its report on employee benefits for private industry and state and local government workers as of March 2020. The data is compiled from the National Compensation Survey (NCS) which conducts periodic updates on the provisions and incidence of employee benefit plans, and comprehensive measures of compensation cost trends.
The key findings include:
- For retirement benefits, 99% of full-time state and local government workers had access to retirement benefits with 90% participating. By comparison, 77% of full-time private industry workers had access with 61% participating. Note that retirement benefits include those provided through defined benefit and defined contribution plans.
- For employer-provided medical care, 99% of full-time state and local government workers had access to employer-provided medical care, with 78% participating. By comparison, 85% of full-time private industry workers had access with 60% participating.
- For life insurance benefits, 91% of full-time state and local government workers had access compared to 70% of full-time private industry workers. Most workers who had access to life insurance benefits chose to participate.
The news release is available here.