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 Internet address:
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                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 >


                       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.