Technical Contact: (202) 691-6199 USDL: 08-0408 

 NCSinfo@bls.gov 

Media Contact: (202) 691-5902 For release: 10:00 AM EDT 

Internet address: www.bls.gov/ebs Tuesday, March 25, 2008 

EMPLOYEE BENEFITS IN STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT—SEPTEMBER 2007 

 Eighty-nine percent of workers in State and local government had access to employer-sponsored retirement 

benefits in September 2007. Almost 3 times as many workers had access to defined benefit plans (83 percent) 

than to defined contribution plans (29 percent). Nearly all workers (96 percent) who had access to a defined 

benefit retirement plan chose to participate in it, whereas only 63 percent of workers with access to defined 

contribution plans chose to enroll in them. Eighty-seven percent of workers had access to medical care plans, a 

percentage greater than access to dental care (55 percent) and to vision care (38 percent). These findings are 

from the Summary, "National Compensation Survey: Employee Benefits in State and local government, 

September 2007," published today. These results can be found on the BLS Web site 

http://www.bls.gov/ncs/ebs/sp/ebsm0007.pdf. 

 These data are from the National Compensation Survey (NCS), which provides comprehensive measures of 

occupational earnings, compensation cost trends, and details of benefit provisions. In addition to health and 

retirement plans, the survey also covered paid leave, disability insurance, and other selected benefits. This 

summary is the first release of data on benefits in State and local government since 1998. The National 

Compensation Survey (NCS) has been undergoing significant restructuring and changes in its approach to 

collecting, tabulating, and presenting its data. 

Major findings 

 State and local government employees enjoyed broad access to a wide variety of benefits at their workplace, 

including retirement and medical care benefits, available to a vast majority of employees, 89 percent and 87 

percent, respectively. By comparison, only 61 percent of employees in private industry had access to 

retirement benefits of at least one type; 71 percent had access to medical care coverage in March 2007. (See 

http://www.bls.gov/ncs/ebs/sp/ebsm0006.pdf for the publication on private-industry workers.)

 The greatest factor affecting the availability of benefits in State and local government was full- vs. part-time 

status: access to almost all benefits was much higher for full-time than part-time employees—up to four 

times higher for some benefits.

 A variety of other benefits were offered to workers in State and local government. Work-related educational 

assistance benefits were offered to about two-thirds of all workers. Employee assistance programs were 

available to almost three-quarters of all employees; about 6 out of 10 workers had access to health care 

reimbursement accounts, and about half to dependent care reimbursement accounts and to wellness 

programs.

The release and Summary Report are available by e-mail request, by telephone (202) 691-6199, or on the 

BLS Internet site. Regional Information offices, listed on the Internet site, http://www.bls.gov/bls/regncon.htm, 

also are available to answer any of your questions.