2026 Employee Benefits in the United States — 2026-09-25

Retirement benefits were available to 72 percent of private industry workers in March 2026, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Seventy percent of private industry workers had access to defined contribution plans and 14 percent had access to defined benefit plans. Fifty-two percent of private industry workers participated in retirement plans, 49 percent participated in defined contribution plans, and 9 percent participated in defined benefit plans. Among state and local government workers, 92 percent of workers had access to retirement benefits and 81 percent participated. Thirty-nine percent had access to defined contribution plans with a participation rate of 20 percent and 86 percent had access to defined benefit plans with a participation rate of 75 percent. (See table 1.) Fifty-nine percent of private industry workers had access to life insurance plans, 44 percent had access to short-term disability plans, and 37 percent had access to long-term disability plans.