Whether you love it or hate it, the Affordable Care Act has created quite a stir over heath care benefits. Over the next few years, there's going to be some significant changes to make health care benefits more widely available. But how many people currently have access to employer-sponsored health care benefits?
And let's not forget about the predictions of Social Security going bankrupt in the near future. Do employees have access to private retirement benefits, or will we all be relying on Social Security benefits that may not be there?
According to the latest estimates from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 72% of civilian workers have access to medical benefits, and 68% have access to retirement benefits. But access to benefits varies by occupational category:
88% of individuals working in management, professional and related occupations have access to medical benefits, compared to only 48% of individuals working in service occupations. This difference also exists in access to retirement benefits: 83% in management, professional and related occupations and 47% in service occupations.
Equally important to employees are paid leave benefits. Paid leave benefits have been - and still are - the most widely available benefit offered. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that paid vacations are available to 91% of full time employees working in private industry. Paid sick leave is available to 75% of full-time private industry workers, while 45% of full-time private industry workers have access to paid personal leave. But, just like medial and retirement benefits, access to paid leave varies across occupational categories:
As with medical and retirement benefits, access to paid leave is smallest within the service occupations. Individuals working in management, professional and related occupations have the greatest access to paid sick leave. When it comes to paid vacations, individuals in production, transportation and materials moving have the greatest access, closely followed by natural resources, construction and maintenance occupations and sales and office occupations.
This data is limited to employer-sponsored benefits, and doesn't tell us anything about the true number of people in the United States with no access to health care benefits, or how many of us will be reliant on Social Security as our only means of retirement income. As of June 2011, the U6 unemployment rate - which includes total unemployed plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force plus total employed part time for economic reasons - was 16.2%. So even though the above figures don't look too bad in terms of access to health care and retirement benefits, we need to look at the whole of the civilian population to really see who does - and doesn't - have access.
Stephanie R. Thomas is an economic and statistical consultant specializing in EEO issues and employment litigation risk management. For more than twelve years, she's been working with businesses and government agencies like the DOJ and FBI, providing expert analysis. Stephanie's articles have been published in Bloomberg Law Report, Corporate Counselor, and other professional journals. She has appeared on NPR to discuss the gender wage gap. Stephanie is the host of The Proactive Employer Podcast and is the founder of Thomas Econometrics. Follow her on Twitter at ProactiveStats.
Comments