Earnings and Benefits

Private Companies

According to data from the BLS National Compensation Survey (http://www.bls.gov/ncs/ebs/sp/ebsm0003.pdf), workers in goods-producing industries had greater access to benefits in March 2005 than did employees of service-producing industries. In addition, those who worked for companies that employed at least 100 people often had greater access to a variety of benefits than did employees of small companies, especially retirement plans, health insurance, and disability benefits.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce's 2004 Employee Benefits Study offers an overview of the employee benefits practices of 609 employers. The results of this study show that in 2003 participating companies offered employees an average of 8.7 paid holidays. In general larger firms recognize more paid holidays than do smaller companies.

In addition to paid holidays, many companies also offered paid time off for vacation, personal business, and

TABLE 6.3 Median weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary workers by detailed occupation and sex, 2005

TABLE 6.3 Median weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary workers by detailed occupation and sex, 2005 (CONTINUED)

illness in 2003. According to the Chamber of Commerce study, 75% of the surveyed firms offer a traditional plan that includes a prescribed number of vacation days per years of employee tenure plus a certain number of sick days, while 25% offer a hybrid plan of general paid days off that individual workers can choose to use as needed for sick days, personal business, or vaction time. The BLS compensation survey indicated that as of March 2005, 77% of U.S. workers had both paid holidays and paid vacations.

TABLE 6.3 Median weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary workers by detailed occupation and sex, 2005 (CONTINUED)

Many employees are entitled to additional vacation days with increasing length of employment. The Chamber of Commerce study reported that, generally, the allowable vacation periods or paid days off were 8.4 to 13.7 days for employees with one year of service; 13.1 to 18.4 days (five years); 16.3 to 21.9 days (ten years); 18.2 to 23.5 days (fifteen years); and 19.5 to 24.6 days (twenty years).

As of March 2005, according to the National Compensation Survey, 70% of workers had access to TABLE 6.3 Median weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary workers by detailed occupation and sex, 2005 (CONTINUED)employer-provided medical care plans and slightly more than half of workers (53%) participated in such plans. (See Table 6.4.) Of those with medical coverage, the employees' share of single and family coverage averaged 18% and 29%, respectively. Seventy-six percent of single employees were required to contribute to the cost of their medical insurance in 2005, as were 88%of those with family coverage. The average monthly employee contribution rose from about $12.00 in the mid-1980s to $60.24 for individual coverage in 2003, to $68.96 in 2005. On average, the cost

TABLE 6.3 Median weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary workers by detailed occupation and sex, 2005 (CONTINUED)

to employees of family health coverage rose from $228.98 per month in 2003 to $273.03 in 2005. (See Table 6.5.)

State and Local Governments

About three-fourths (73%) of employees of state and local governments had paid holidays in 1998 (still the most current statistics available from the BLS and published in December 2000). More than one-third (38%) of government workers were eligible for paid personal leave, and 96% had paid sick leave. Also as a benefit, 95% of state and local government employees were offered unpaid family leave. Most (89%) participated in employer-provided life insurance plans, and 86% had medical care plans, with 51% of the participants paying a monthly contribution to the health plan. Most government employees (98%) were provided with retirement income benefits.

Types of Employees

In 2005 blue-collar and service employees were less likely than other types of employees to participate in TABLE 6.3 Median weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary workers by detailed occupation and sex, 2005 (CONTINUED) "39. Median Weekly Earnings of Full-time Wage and Salary Workers by Detailed Occupation and Sex, 2005," Current Population Survey, U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2005, http://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat39.pdf (accessed January 8, 2006)some employee benefit programs. For example, 51% of blue-collar employees, and 22% of employees in service occupations had retirement benefits, as compared with 61% of white-collar employees. On the other hand, workers in traditional blue-collar occupations were more likely to be covered by a medical care plan (61%) than were white-collar workers (58%) or service workers (27%). According to BLS statistics, white-collar occupations surpassed blue-collar and service occupations in all categories of paid time off in 2005. For example, white-collar (85%) workers were more likely to receive paid holidays than were blue-collar (81%) or service occupations workers (49%). Seventy-four percent of white-collar workers were eligible for paid sick leave, compared with 46% of workers in blue-collar occupations and 36% in service occupations.

As of 1998, blue-collar and service employees in state and local governments in most cases fared better than other state and local government employees. More of the blue-collar and service workers (92%) received paid holidays and vacations than the white-collar employees (86%), except teachers (83%). Less than one-third of the teachers (31%) were awarded paid holidays, and only 10% got paid vacations. However, teachers are typically paid to work a specific number of days per school year. Health care benefits appear to be a basic benefit for all government workers, since about the same proportion of blue-collar and service employees, teachers, and white-collar employees participated in health care benefits.