2004 Employee Benefits in Private Industry — 2004-11-09

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.