Compensation and Working Conditions Winter 2000 5

The National Compensation Survey

WILLIAM J. WIATROWSKI

For the first time, the Bureau of Labor Statistics will

provide interrelated statistics on wage levels, benefit

costs, rates of change in employer costs for compensation, benefit plan incidence, and detailed benefit

provisions.

The National The National The National

Compensation Survey: Compensation Survey: Compensation Survey:

Compensation Statistics Compensation Statistics Compensation Statistics

for the 21st Century for the 21st Century

William J. Wiatrowski is an economist in the

Division of Compensation Data Analysis and

Planning, Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Telephone: 202-691-6255

E-mail: wiatrowski_w@bls.gov

What is employee compensation at the dawn of the 21stcentury? It is more than

hourly wages paid to the 1880s farmhand. It is more than the salary paid to

the 1920s stock broker or the defined

benefit pension plan given to the 1950s

auto worker. It is even more than the

401(k) plan available to the 1980s computer scientist and the stock options

offered to the 1999 dot-com maverick.

Compensation comprises all these

things and more, and has evolved over

the past century from fixed items

granted by the employer to a range of

items that may even include items chosen by the employee.

And what of the state of compensation statistics? Have they kept up with

the change in compensation? And is

there sufficient coordination between

the various types of compensation data

to meet the many information needs?

This article describes new compensation data produced by the Bureau of

Labor Statistics (BLS)—the National

Compensation Survey (NCS). The NCS

evolved from several existing programs, but takes those programs in new

directions. The NCS provides statistically-valid, comprehensive, and interrelated data on wages and employee

benefits for all American workers.

Compensation data are used by a

variety of individuals and groups—

academics, government policymakers,

labor unions, employers, researchers,

and individuals. Data are needed to

answer questions as diverse as how

much to pay registered nurses in Dallas or what is a competitive dental care

plan for clerical workers. The box on page

4 shows the types of questions that compensation professionals and others

might be asking, along with the answers

that NCS data can provide now, or will

provide in the future. The remainder of

this article discusses the origins and

structure of the NCS program.

A historical perspective

Since it was established in the late 19th

century, BLS has been conducting

compensation surveys. Among the

earliest BLS surveys were those designed to gather wage information for

a specific purpose, such as to determine the effect of the 1890 tariff on

wages in certain industries. Surveys

of employee benefits date to the early

20th century, and typically took the

form of case studies of new practices
6 Compensation and Working Conditions Winter 2000

undertaken by small numbers of employers.1 Compensation studies up

through the first half of the last century were designed to meet short-term

needs; there was little relationship between one study and the next, and

there were little or no trend data.2

In the 1950s, BLS began the first

Occupational Wage Surveys, a program

Design of the National Compensation Survey

The design of the National Compensation Survey focuses on three basic components: A selection of geographic areas; a selection

of establishments within those areas; and a selection of occupations within those establishments.

Geographic areas. Geographic areas. Data for the NCS are captured from a fixed set of geographic areas, rather than from all areas of the country.

A sample of 154 metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas throughout the 50 States and the District of Columbia was selected to

represent the United States. These areas also were selected in such a way as to produce estimates for nine broad geographic

divisions and four broader regions. The selection of areas was conducted in 1995, based on area definitions as determined following

the 1990 census.1

Establishments. Establishments. Within each area, a scientific sample of establishments is chosen to represent all establishments in the area. An

establishment is a single physical location, such as a plant, a warehouse, a corporate office, or a retail outlet. The sample is chosen

from the State Unemployment Insurance files, which include all establishments that had employees in a certain period. The

establishment sample includes private industries and State and local governments. The survey excludes the Federal Government,

the military, agriculture, and private households.2

 Establishments are chosen using probability techniques, with the chance of

selection proportional to establishment employment.

Occupations. Occupations. Within each sampled establishment, a probability sample of occupations is selected; compensation data are

collected for only these occupations. Occupations are classified into 1 of approximately 450 defined occupations—such as

registered nurse, accountant, secretary, or waitress—based on duties and responsibilities.3

 A factor evaluation also is conducted

on each selected occupation, to determine the level of work within the occupation. The factor evaluation system used for this

analysis is the Federal Government’s Factor Evaluation System, which consists of these nine factors:4 Knowledge, supervision

received, guidelines, complexity, scope and effect, personal contacts, purpose of contacts, work environment, and physical

demands.

Wage rates are collected for all workers within the sampled occupation—for example, all entry-level accountants. Wages are

defined as straight-time earnings, excluding overtime. Items included in the collection of wages are time-based payments, piece

rates, commissions, hazard pay, and other items directly related to the work being performed.

Items excluded from wage collection are such payments as housing and meal allowances, nonproduction bonuses (not related

to individual output), and payments from third parties (such as tips or payments to sales workers from third parties). Information

on worktime also is captured—hours per day, hours per week, and weeks per year.

Several types of benefits data are collected: Employer costs, employee contributions, numbers of workers with access to and

participating in benefit plans, and detailed benefit plan provisions. Data are collected for the following benefits: Paid vacation,

paid holidays, paid sick leave, other paid leave, premium pay for overtime, shift differentials, nonproduction bonuses, health

insurance, life insurance, short-term disability insurance, long-term disability insurance, defined benefit pension, defined contribution, Social Security, medicare, Federal unemployment insurance, State unemployment insurance, workers’ compensation, severance pay, and supplemental unemployment benefits.

that is a direct ancestor of the National

Compensation Survey. These surveys

typically were conducted in metropolitan areas throughout the country.

Wage data were collected and published for selected jobs (such as secretary or truck driver) and for work levels

within those jobs (used to differentiate

duties and responsibilities). Over time,

this program was expanded to cover

specialty jobs in selected industries and

white-collar jobs nationwide. A benefit component, the Employee Benefits

Survey, was added to the national pay

survey in the late 1970s. This program

provided the Bureau’s first-ever comprehensive set of statistics on the availability and details of employer-pro1

 New metropolitan area definitions are produced following each decennial census; minor revisions to those definitions are made

periodically. The current design calls for NCS to reselect its sample of areas once every 10 years, after the new definitions are put in

place. For a look at the current geographic sample, see Kenneth J. Hoffman, “New Sample Areas Selected for BLS National

Compensation Survey Program,” Compensation and Working Conditions, Spring 1997, pp. 27-31. 2 Industries currently are defined by the Standard Industrial Classification system. The NCS is beginning to reclassify establishments

using the new North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). Publications with industries defined using this new

system are expected to be released in 2004. 3

 Occupations currently are defined by the Census Occupational Classification system. The NCS is beginning to reclassify

occupations using the new Standard Occupational Classification system. Publications with occupations defined using this new system

are expected to be released in 2004. 4

 For a discussion of the NCS Factor Evaluation System and its use as a predictor of wages, see Brooks Pierce, “Using the National

Compensation Survey to Predict Wage Rates,” Compensation and Working Conditions, Winter 1999, pp. 8-16.
 Compensation and Working Conditions Winter 2000 7

Compensation question? Ask NCS

The National Compensation Survey

Here are some examples of the types of information that the NCS is designed to provide:

Q A manufacturer estimated that its benefit costs increased 3 percent during 1999. Is that comparable to the

experience of other employers in the manufacturing industry?

A. Employer benefit costs in manufacturing rose 3.4 percent for the 12 months ending December 1999. These data

are from the quarterly Employment Cost Index, one of the products of the NCS.

Q. My defined benefit pension plan costs are about 2 percent of my total compensation costs. How does that My defined benefit pension plan costs are about 2 percent of my total compensation costs. How does that My defined benefit pension plan costs are about 2 percent of my total compensation costs. How does that

compare with other small private establishments?

A. Defined benefit pension plan costs averaged 14 cents per hour worked, 0.8 percent of total compensation costs,

for private employers with fewer than 100 workers as of March 2000, according to the Employer Costs for Employee

Compensation data from the NCS.

Q. What are the average hourly wages for part-time bartenders in San Francisco?

A. The NCS occupational compensation survey in San Francisco indicated that the average wage rate for part-time

bartenders was $7.20 per hour in 1999.

Q. Our school system is considering providing paid holidays to teachers. How prevalent is such a practice among

local government school systems?

A. Thirty-one percent of full-time teachers in State and local governments received paid holidays in 1998, according

to NCS benefits data. Teachers typically are employed on a 9- or 10-month basis, for a specified number of school days.

Holidays, school vacations, and other nonschool days are often considered unpaid.

Q. Our employees are asking for dental coverage as part of our health benefits. Is that a common benefit among Our employees are asking for dental coverage as part of our health benefits. Is that a common benefit among

large employers in the northeast? What services are typically covered?

A. NCS benefits data indicate that 58 percent of full-time employees in larger private establishments (those with 100

workers or more) in the northeast received dental care benefits in 1997. Nationally, these plans covered such items as

preventive services (x-rays and cleanings) and restoration (fillings, crowns, and similar procedures). Plans often cover

different dental services in different ways. For example, a plan might pay for 100 percent of the cost of x-rays and

cleanings, after the patient pays a deductible. The same plan might pay for 80 percent of the cost of a filling and 50

percent of the cost of a crown.

Q. What types of disability benefits are generally provided to warehouse employees? What types of disability benefits are generally provided to warehouse employees?

A. Disability benefits can come from several different sources, such as sick leave, short-term disability benefits,

long-term disability insurance, and retirement plans. Among full-time blue-collar and service employees (which would

include warehouse employees) in larger private establishments, 38 percent were covered by a sick leave plan, 58 percent

by short-term disability benefits, 28 percent by long-term disability insurance, and 50 percent by a defined benefit

pension plan (3 out of 4 of which had disability provisions). NCS data provide some insight on the relationships

between these benefits as well. For example, defined benefit pension plans often begin to pay disability benefits only

after long-term disability insurance benefits have been exhausted.

Q. We are negotiating with the union over cost-of-living increases in our defined benefit pension plans. How

widespread are such features in private sector pension plans and how do they typically work?

A. The NCS benefits survey of larger private establishments indicates that 50 percent of full-time workers have a

defined benefit pension plan, and of those participants, only 3 percent have a cost-of-living increase. Such increases

are found more often among State and local government plans. Where cost-of-living adjustments do exist, they

typically are tied to an inflation indicator, such as the BLS Consumer Price Index (CPI). The plan provides an annual

pension increase equal to the percent increase in the CPI, but often capped at a certain amount, such as 3 percent per

year.

Q. Our union is in negotiations with our employer over wage increases for craft employees. What types of Our union is in negotiations with our employer over wage increases for craft employees. What types of

increases have these workers received over the past 2 years?

A. Data from the Employment Cost Index, a product of the NCS, indicate that wages among private sector precision

production, craft, and repair occupations increased by 6.8 percent for the 2-year period ending December 1999.
8 Compensation and Working Conditions Winter 2000

Q. My employer requires me to pay a greater monthly premium for our company’s fee-for-service health plan than

for HMO coverage. Is my situation unique?

A. Data from the NCS benefits survey indicate that employee contributions are required more often for those

covered by HMO plans than for those covered by fee-for-service plans:

Percent of participants required to contribute

Fee-for-service plans HMOs

Single coverage 67 74

Family coverage 77 86

However, when contributions are required, average employee contributions per month are higher for fee-for-service

plans than for HMOs:

Average employee contribution per month

 Fee-for-service plans HMOs

Single coverage $41.69 $34.28

Family coverage 132.37 125.79

Q. I employ truck drivers and assemblers in Oklahoma City and Louisville. I’m considering expanding my

business to Kalamazoo. What is the typical wage for these occupations in Kalamazoo, compared with Oklahoma City

and Louisville?

A. Average wages from the NCS in these areas are as follows:

 Truck drivers Assemblers

Oklahoma City $17.62 $15.50

Louisville $15.01 $18.78

Kalamazoo $14.05 $19.92

Q. Our company coordinates its defined benefit pension plan with Social Security. We are considering amending

the pension plan to drop this feature. What effect will that change have on our plan costs?

A. Defined benefit plan costs are influenced by many factors, including the demographics of plan participants and

the results of plan investments. At the present time, the NCS can provide data on employer costs for defined benefit

plans as a whole, but not by type of plan. In the future, separate cost data can be calculated for those plans that

coordinate with Social Security and those that do not.

Q. My employer has a reputation for paying high wages but providing limited benefits. Is that type of wage-benefit My employer has a reputation for paying high wages but providing limited benefits. Is that type of wage-benefit My employer has a reputation for paying high wages but providing limited benefits. Is that type of wage-benefit

trade-off typical?

A. Currently, NCS data can provide information on what employers pay in wage and benefit costs, but not the

relationship between the two. In the future, benefit cost data will be available by wage range, which will indicate

whether employers paying higher wages in turn have higher benefit costs.1

Q. Our software firm has grown to the point that we must now expand our accounting department. tment. We are

interested in setting up a system of entry-level, journey, and senior accountants, and setting appropriate pay levels. opriate pay levels.

Are data available on wages for different levels of work within an occupation?

A. The NCS publishes wage data by occupation and work level. Work level is determined by a point factor

evaluation system. (More information on this system may be found in the box on page 3.) Data from the NCS wage

survey in the New York metropolitan area include wage data for accountants and auditors at grade 5 (equivalent to entry

level), and grade 11 (equivalent to journey level). Data are not available for accountants at grade 13 (equivalent to

senior level), but data are available for management-related occupations grade 13, which is a grouping that includes

accountants and auditors. Average wages for these occupations and work levels as of July 1999 were as follows:

Accountants and auditors grade 5 $17.61

Accountants and auditors grade 11 $32.64

Management-related occupations grade 13 $70.43

1

 For a detailed analysis of the relationship of employer wage and benefit costs, see Brooks Pierce, “Compensation Inequality,”

Working Paper 323 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, June 1999).
 Compensation and Working Conditions Winter 2000 9

The National Compensation Survey

vided benefits. Previous benefit studies typically were case studies of plans

or their features.

Interest in measures of change in

employer costs for wages and benefits

in the 1970s led to the development of

the Employment Cost Index (ECI), a

quarterly measure of compensation

cost changes. Previous studies had

examined the levels of employer wage

and benefit costs. The ECI, introduced

in 1975, was the Bureau’s first attempt

to provide a single measure of change

in employer compensation costs. Since

1986, these data on employer cost

trends also have been used to produce

annual levels of employer compensation costs and estimates of the proportion of those costs attributable to various types of compensation.

A sample of outputs from these surveys is presented in table 1. There are

some seemingly similar data in these

various series, but there is a lack of

coordination among these products

that can limit their usefulness for certain analysis. The NCS is designed to

coordinate these compensation statistics. (See the box on page 3 for information on the design of the NCS.)

Survey outputs

There are four basic products of the

National Compensation Survey—occupational wage estimates, employer compensation cost trends and levels, benefit availability, and benefit details.

Occupational wages are published for

local areas, geographic regions, and

the Nation as a whole. Data are published by major industry group, public

sector versus private sector, full time

versus part time, union status, and establishment size categories. Table 2

provides a sample table from the NCS

Minneapolis-St. Paul survey.

Indexes and rates of change for employer compensation costs—the Employment Cost Index—are published

quarterly. This series, a principal Federal economic indicator, dates to 1975

and is a major indicator of wage-push

inflation. Data are published for wage

costs, benefit costs, and total compensation (wage plus benefit) costs. Publication variables include occupational

group, industry division, union status,

and broad geographic area. Chart 1

provides data on the trends in wage

and benefit costs over the past several

years.

The same sample of establishments

and occupations used to produce the

Employment Cost Index also is used to

produce data on the amount that employers spend on wages and benefits.

This series, known as Employer Costs

for Employee Compensation, provides

data on employer costs for wages and

benefits. In contrast to the ECI, these

costs are presented as dollars and cents

per hour worked and as the ratio of the

cost of each item to the total cost of all

compensation. For example, in March

2000, employers spent $21.16 per hour

worked for wages and benefits; of this

total, $1.25, or 5.9 percent of total compensation, was spent on health insurance. Table 3 provides an example of

these outputs for all civilian workers

as of March 2000.

In addition to data on benefit cost,

NCS provides information on the percent of employees participating in each

of several types of benefit plan; the

percent of employees with access to a

given benefit will be available in the

future. Participation is defined as the

percent of workers who are actually

covered by a benefit, having met all

conditions and made all required contributions. Access is the percent of

workers who are in occupations that

have the benefit available. Benefit access includes those who are covered

by the benefit, those who are not covered because they have not met some

condition (such as a length-of-service

requirement), and those who have declined coverage (typically because they

have chosen not to pay a required contribution for the benefit).3 These estimates of benefit counts will be produced with the same reference period

as the employer cost data, permitting

the first-ever comparisons of benefit

incidence and employer cost. (See

table 4.)

Beyond counts of workers, NCS

provides extensive details on plan provisions, with emphasis on health care

Percent change

Wages

Benefits

CHART 1. Annual percent change in employer cost for wages and benefits, 1982-2000

0

2

4

6

8

10

1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000
10 Compensation and Working Conditions Winter 2000

and retirement income plans. For

health care plans, detailed provisions

include the types of care covered,

amounts of deductibles and co-insurances, limits on hospital stays and doctor visits, as well as details on dental,

vision, and prescription drug coverages. Retirement income details include

contributions and benefit payouts, retirement ages, survivor protection, and

provisions for employees who leave

their employer before retirement age.

See table 5 for a sample of the type of

benefit provision detail provided by

NCS.

For each occupation, data will be

available on wage rates, employer benefit costs, benefit availability, and detailed benefit provisions. These data

will be used to produce new tabulations

that relate these variables to each other.

For example, wage data and benefit provisions can be related to provide insight as to the richness of benefit plans

for those earning differing wage levels. Are higher-paid employees also

given more generous benefit plans?

Employer benefit cost data also will be

1

 BLS studies of employer-provided benefits throughout the 20th century are

chronicled in William J. Wiatrowski, “Family-related benefits in the workplace,”

Monthly Labor Review, March 1990, pp. 28-

33. 2

 Information on early wage studies conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics may

be found in Joseph P. Goldberg and William

T. Moye, The First Hundred Years of the

Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bulletin 2235

(Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1985.) See also

Harry M. Douty, “A century of wage statistics: the BLS contribution,” Monthly Labor

linked to benefit provisions to permit

comparisons of costs for different plan

types. For example, what is the trend

in employer costs for fee-for-service

plans versus health maintenance organizations? Finally, all of these data will

be combined into a database to allow

more sophisticated analyses of compensation trends, including regressions of benefit plan provisions against

employer cost. For instance, do second surgical opinion features really reduce employer health care premiums?

All NCS compensation data will be

available for a series of variables, such

as industry, occupation, union status,

location, size of establishment, fulltime/part-time status, and profit versus

nonprofit organizations.

NCS data are available through a

variety of media. Initial releases of key

economic indicators are available

through U.S. Department of Labor

news releases. For example, the Employment Cost Index is released on the

last Thursday of January, April, July,

and October each year. Other data,

such as the local wage data, are first

available in BLS bulletins. More-detailed analyses of NCS data are published in two BLS periodicals—the

Monthly Labor Review and Compensation and Working Conditions. Finally, all data are available at the BLS

Internet site: http://stats.bls.gov.

THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS has provided data on wages since it was established in the late 19th century, and

has provided data on benefits since the

early 20th century. Series that provide

a consistent look at wages by occupation date from the 1950s and detailed

benefits data date from the 1970s. Now,

for the first time, BLS has combined

many of its compensation measures into

a single, integrated, comprehensive

program detailing the wages, benefits,

and establishment practices available

to American workers. Interrelated data

on wage levels, benefit costs, rates of

change in employer costs for compensation, benefit availability, and benefit

plan details will now be available from

a single source—the National Compensation Survey.

Review, November 1984, pp. 16-28. 3

 For a discussion of the variety of benefit

measures available from BLS compensation

surveys, see William J. Wiatrowski, “Counting the Incidence of Employee Benefits,”

Compensation and Working Conditions, June

1996, pp. 10-18.
 Compensation and Working Conditions Winter 2000 11

 TABLE 1. Examples of historical data from BLS compensation surveys, 1952-2000

The National Compensation Survey

 Occupational compensation data1

Mean wages for:

Hand bookkeepers, New York, 1952 (men) .............................................. $79.00/week

Hand bookkeepers, New York, 1952 (women).......................................... $68.00/week

Oilers, New York, 1952 ................................................................................ $1.63/hour

Light truck drivers, New York, 1952 ............................................................ $1.81/hour

Payroll clerks, San Francisco, 1965 (men) ............................................... $127.00/week

Payroll clerks, San Francisco, 1965 (women) .......................................... $104.00/week

Millwrights, San Francisco, 1965 ................................................................ $3.63/hour

Civil engineers, Boston, 1999...................................................................... $29.60/hour

Computer programmers, Boston, 1999 ...................................................... $23.51/hour

Payroll and timekeeping clerks, Boston, 1999 ........................................... $13.78/hour

Percent of workers with:

Health insurance, 1979 ............................................................................... 97

Defined benefit pension, 1979 ..................................................................... 87

Health insurance, 1997 ............................................................................... 76

Defined benefit pension, 1997 ..................................................................... 50

Defined contribution plan, 1997 ................................................................... 57

 Employer cost for compensation per hour worked3

Straight-time wages, 1968 ................................................................................ $3.13

Benefits, 1968 .............................................................................................. .76

 Insurance .................................................................................................. .09

 Employer retirement plan ......................................................................... .11

 Social security .......................................................................................... .13

Straight-time wages, 2000 ................................................................................ $15.36

Benefits, 2000 .............................................................................................. 5.80

 Insurance .................................................................................................. 1.36

 Employer retirement plan ......................................................................... .77

 Social security .......................................................................................... .98

Item BLS estimate

Employee benefits data2

1

 Data are for full-time employees in private establishments.

 2 Data are for full-time employees in larger private

establishments.

3

 Data from 1968 are for all employees in private

establishments; data from 2000 are for employees in

private establishments and State and local government.
12 Compensation and Working Conditions Winter 2000

TABLE 2. Occupational wage data, Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN-WI, November 1999

 All workers

All occupations .......................................................................... $18.65 $16.30

 White-collar occupations ...................................................... 21.92 19.23

 Registered nurses ............................................................ 24.22 24.25

 Private industry

All occupations .......................................................................... 18.16 15.41

 White-collar occupations ...................................................... 21.81 18.78

 Registered nurses ............................................................ 23.60 23.21

 State and local government

All occupations .......................................................................... 20.85 19.24

 White-collar occupations ...................................................... 22.29 20.57

 Registered nurses ............................................................. 26.42 24.93

 Full-time workers

All occupations .......................................................................... 19.92 17.78

 White-collar occupations ...................................................... 22.91 19.88

 Registered nurses ............................................................. 24.83 24.49

 Part-time workers

All occupations .......................................................................... 10.58 9.00

 White-collar occupations ...................................................... 13.16 11.75

 Registered nurses ............................................................. 23.10 23.21

Occupational group Mean hourly wages Median hourly wages
 Compensation and Working Conditions Winter 2000 13

The National Compensation Survey

TABLE 3. Employer costs per hour worked for employee compensation and costs as a percent of total

compensation, civilian workers, March 2000

 Total compensation ....................................................................... $21.16 100.0

Wages and salaries ............................................................................ 15.36 72.6

Total benefits ....................................................................................... 5.80 27.4

 Paid leave ........................................................................................ 1.42 6.7

Vacation ....................................................................................... .65 3.1

Holiday ......................................................................................... .48 2.3

Sick leave .................................................................................... .21 1.0

Other leave ................................................................................. .07 .3

 Supplemental pay ............................................................................ .55 2.6

Premium pay for overtime .......................................................... .22 1.0

Shift differential ............................................................................ .05 .2

Nonproduction bonuses ............................................................. .28 1.3

 Insurance ........................................................................................ 1.36 6.4

Life insurance .............................................................................. .05 .2

Health insurance ......................................................................... 1.25 5.9

Short-term disability .................................................................... .04 .2

Long-term disability ..................................................................... .03 .1

 Retirement ....................................................................................... .77 3.6

Defined benefit ............................................................................ .43 2.0

Defined contribution .................................................................... .34 1.6

 Legally required benefits ................................................................. 1.67 7.9

Social Security ............................................................................ .98 4.6

Medicare...................................................................................... .25 1.2

Federal unemployment insurance .............................................. .03 .1

State unemployment insurance .................................................. .09 .4

Workers’ compensation .............................................................. .33 1.6

 Other benefits ................................................................................. .03 .1

Compensation component Cost per hour Percent of total

compensation
14 Compensation and Working Conditions Winter 2000

TABLE 4. Percent of full-time and part-time employees participating in selected employee benefit

programs, private sector establishments with 100 employees or more, 1997

Paid holidays ....................................................................................... 89 40

Paid vacations ..................................................................................... 95 44

Paid personal leave ............................................................................. 20 9

Paid funeral leave ................................................................................ 81 34

Paid jury duty leave ............................................................................. 87 37

Paid military leave ............................................................................... 47 9

Paid family leave ................................................................................. 2 1

Unpaid family leave ............................................................................. 93 54

Paid sick leave .................................................................................... 56 18

Short-term disability ............................................................................ 55 18

Long-term disability ............................................................................. 43 4

Life insurance ...................................................................................... 87 18

Medical care ........................................................................................ 76 21

Dental care .......................................................................................... 59 16

Vision care ........................................................................................... 26 9

Outpatient prescription drug coverage .............................................. 73 20

All retirement programs....................................................................... 79 34

 Defined benefit ............................................................................... 50 17

 Defined contribution ....................................................................... 57 23

Benefit program Full-time

employees

Part-time

employees

TABLE 5. Percent of employees with health care benefits by coverage for selected services, full-time employees,

private sector establishments with 100 employees or more, 1997

Hospital room/board .................................................................. 100 100 100

Inpatient surgery ....................................................................... 100 100 100

Office visits ................................................................................ 100 100 100

Skilled nursing home care ........................................................ 78 84 76

Home health care ...................................................................... 85 93 81

Hospice care ............................................................................. 60 43 69

Outpatient mental health ........................................................... 95 99 93

Routine physical exams ........................................................... 63 97 47

All covered

employees

Employees with

HMO coverage

Employees without

HMO coverage Service

Benefit program