Employee Benefits in the United States

August 07, 2008
Two-thirds of private industry and State and local government workers had access to retirement benefits and nearly three-quarters to medical care in March 2008. Access and participation in retirement and medical care benefits were greater in government than in private industry. More...
(HTML) (PDF)

Employee Benefits in State and Local Government

March 25, 2008
State and local government employees have access to a variety of benefits, including retirement plans (89 percent) and health benefits (87 percent) according to the National Compensation Survey. The report also includes data on life insurance, disability insurance, and a number of other benefits. More...
(HTML) (PDF)

Current EBS News Releases

• Employee Benefits in State and Local Government, September 2007 (HTML) (PDF)
• Employee Benefits in the United States, March 2008 (HTML) (PDF)
• Employee Benefits in Private Industry, 2006 (PDF)(TXT)
• Employee Benefits in Private Industry, 2005 (PDF)(TXT)

Databases

Database Name	Special Notice	Top Picks	One Screen	Multi- Screen	Tables	Text Files
Tutorials: For help, try these tutorials
Benefit Incidence & Provisions
Employee Benefits Survey

More Tools

• Series Report—Already know the series identifier for the statistic you want? Use this shortcut to retrieve your data.
• Flat files FTP Site —For those who want it all. Download a flat file of the entire database or large subset of the database.
• Benefits Search--allows you to search through all the benefits publications that are currently available electronically.

National Compensation Survey: Employee Benefits in the United States, March 2008

September 2008
Bulletin 2715

Tables Organized by Ownership

Employee Benefits Data Tables: United States, March 2008 (Tab view)

• Civilian
• Private Industry
• State and Local Government
• View all by Ownership Group

Tables Organized by Benefits

Employee Benefits Data Tables: United States, March 2008 (Tab view)

• Retirement Benefits
• Health Insurance Benefits
• Life Insurance Benefits
• Long-term Disability Insurance Benefits
• Establishment Data
• Other Benefits
• View all Benefits

Overview

Technical Note

Appendix Table 1 (HTML) (PDF)

Appendix Table 2 (HTML) (PDF)

• Retirement Benefit Estimates for State and Local Government Workers, 2007 - Summary (PDF) - providing data from the 2007 survey on retirement provisions in state and local government establishments.
• Employee Benefits in State and Local Governments, September 2007 Summary (PDF) - providing data from the 2007 survey on incidence and provisions in state and local government establishments.
• Employee Benefits in Private Industry, March 2007 Summary (PDF) - providing data from the 2007 survey on incidence and provisions in private establishments.
• Employee Benefits in Private Industry, March 2006 Summary (PDF) - providing data from the 2006 survey on incidence and provisions in private establishments.

All EBS Publications »

People Are Asking...

1. I am reviewing our current benefits to see how they compare with those of other small companies. Do you have any information that could help?
2. How much do employees pay for health care?
3. Under Flexible Spending Accounts, can an employer reimburse in monthly increments as the employee's contributions are made, or do they have to under all circumstances remit the full reimbursement at the time the receipt is received?
4. How prevalent are cash account (cash balance) pension plans?
5. Are more workers covered by traditional fee-for-service plans, HMOs, or PPOs?
6. What is a floor-offset plan?
7. Is my company mandated to give me a specific number of paid holidays?
8. Who do I contact if my company has not provided me the benefits it promised?
9. Do you provide information on the percent of workers with employer-provided health insurance?

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What types of benefit data do you have?
2. For what worker and establishment characteristics are benefit data available?
3. How much has the cost of employer-provided benefits increased in the last 5 years?
4. Can I get estimates on benefits for a specific position?
5. Can I get projections on benefits?
6. Are there micro data available to the public?
7. Does BLS track sick-leave usage rates among government employees or any type of employees?
8. What percentage of the American work force is covered by benefit s such as employer provided childcare or adoption assistance?
9. Do you have information on mandatory benefits, and when an employee has the right to receive them?

All EBS FAQs »

• Questions and Answers about the Upcoming Changes to the NCS Benefits Publications

Other BLS Programs

• National Compensation Survey—designed to integrate data from separate BLS compensation surveys—currently provides earnings data by worker characteristics and establishment characteristics and by geographic area.
• Compensation Cost Trends—quarterly indexes measuring change over time in labor costs and quarterly data measuring level of average costs per hour worked.
• Wages—provides data on occupational wages for localities, broad geographic regions, and the nation.

Other Useful Links

• Employment Standards Administration—administers a variety of programs protecting the basic rights of workers, including minimum wage and hour standards, and equal employment opportunity.
• Employee Benefit Research Institute—offers a detailed description of private- and public-sector employee benefit programs as they exist today.
• Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)