Bureau of Labor Statistics Washington, D.C. 20212 

Technical Contact: USDL: 04-2296 

(202) 691-6199 ocltinfo@bls.gov 

Media Contact: FOR RELEASE: 10:00 A.M. (EST) 

(202) 691-5902 TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2004 

Internet address: 

http://www.bls.gov/ncs/ect/home.htm 

EMPLOYEE BENEFITS IN PRIVATE INDUSTRY, 2004 

Sixty-nine percent of workers in private industry had access to employer-sponsored medical care plans, 

and 53 percent participated in medical care plans in March 2004, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. 

Department of Labor reported today. Fifty-nine percent of workers had access to retirement benefits, with 50 

percent participating in at least one type of retirement plan. These findings are from the Summary, “National 

Compensation Survey: Employee Benefits in the United States, March 2004,” published today. 

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. The 

following are some of the major findings: 

• Three-fifths of private establishments offered health insurance in March 2004, and about half of 

establishments offered retirement plans. 

• Paid leave was the most commonly provided employee benefit in the private sector: Paid vacations 

and holidays were available to 77 percent of employees. Paid jury duty leave was also common, 

available to 70 percent of workers. Half of the workers had paid military leave benefits. 

• The large majority of employees covered by medical care plans were in plans requiring employee 

contributions for both single coverage and family coverage. Employee contributions to medical care 

premiums averaged $264.59 per month for family coverage; for single coverage, employee 

contributions averaged $67.57 per month. 

• Twenty-one percent of employees were in defined benefit retirement plans, and 42 percent were 

covered by defined contribution plans. (Some employees participated in both types.) The overall 

coverage of retirement plans has held relatively steady for the last few years. 

• Fifty-one percent of workers had access to life insurance, and nearly as many, 48 percent, 

participated. Short- and long-term disability benefits were available to 39 and 30 percent of workers, 

respectively, and nearly all participated. 

< MORE > 

United States 

Department News of Labor 
Note on Health Care Benefits 

The estimates for March 2004 of the percent of workers with access to and participating in health insurance 

benefits (medical care, dental care, and vision care) are not comparable to the estimates published for 

March 2003. As part of the process for developing the March 2004 estimates, BLS implemented a data 

imputation technique to account for missing information on type of health plan. The 2003 data for access 

and participation in health insurance benefits have been recalculated using this technique. Tables showing 

the recalculated data, with additional information about the change in method, can be found on the BLS 

Web site at http://www.bls.gov/ncs/ebs/notice112004.htm. The recalculated 2003 data and the 2004 data 

are comparable with health benefits data published by BLS for earlier years. 

The release and Summary Report are available by e-mail request at ocltinfo@bls.gov, by telephone (202) 

691-6199, or on the BLS Internet site, http://www.bls.gov/ncs/home.htm. Regional Information offices, listed 

on the Internet site, http://www.bls.gov/bls/regncon.htm, also are available to answer any of your questions.