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Bureau of Labor Statistics > Employee Benefits > Publications > Factsheets

Flexible work schedule and student loan repayment benefits

In 1980, the Bureau of Labor Statistics published the Employee Benefits in Industry from a pilot survey of private sector benefit plans. The pilot survey included information on hours and days per week worked, paid and unpaid lunch and rest time, and paid leave.

Annually, the National Compensation Survey (NCS) program publishes statistics on the costs, coverage, and provisions of employer sponsored benefits. In order to produce relevant statistics about the national economy, the NCS periodically evaluates emerging trends in compensation and modifies the National Compensation Survey and methodologies.

Two benefits were published for the first time with a June 2019 reference period¹: flexible work scheduleand student loan repayment. While the data reflect the percentage of workers with access (available for their use) to these benefits, the NCS does not include additional details about the type of flexible hours arrangements available to workers, employee participation, eligibility requirements, nor the average dollar or maximum amounts employers may reimburse for tuition. Starting with the March 2020 publication, these benefits have been included included in the annual Employee Benefits in the United States publication as part of the quality of life and financial benefits.

In March 2023, 5 percent of civilian workers (includes private industry, as well as state and local government workers) had access to student loan repayment and 15 percent had access to flexible work schedules. (See chart 1.)

Chart 1 data table

Table 1. Percent of civilian workers with access to student loan repayment assistance and flexible work schedules

	2020	2021	2022	2023
	Student loan repayment assistance	4%	4%	4%	5%
Flexible work schedule	12%	13%	14%	15%
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Compensation Survey

Flexible work schedule

For the purposes of the NCS, if workers are able to set their own schedules within a general set of parameters they are considered as having access to flexible work schedule benefits.

For example, employees may be required to work a minimum of five hours per workday, but work can be performed anytime between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Workers may also have a compressed work schedule available to them, where they may work longer hours each day but fewer days in a week (i.e., employees work four ten-hour days).

Among private industry workers in March 2023, a flexible work schedule was available to 30 percent of workers in management, professional, and related workers. Twelve percent of service workers, 16 percent of sales and office workers, 4 percent of natural resources, construction, and maintenance workers, and 6 percent of production, transportation, and material moving workers had access to a flexible work schedule. Eight percent of state and local government workers had access to a flexible work schedule. (See chart 2.)

Chart 2 data table

Table 2. Percent of workers with access to flexible work schedule by major occupational groups, March 2023
Occupation	Private industry workers	State and local government workers
All workers	16%	8%
Management, professional, and related	30%	8%
Service	12%	5%
Sales and office	16%	12%
Natural resources, construction, and maintenance	4%	7%
Production, transportation, and material moving	6%	8%
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Compensation Survey

Among private industry workers in March 2020, 14 percent of full-time workers and 10 percent of part-time workers had access to flexible work schedules. In March 2023, 17 percent of full-time workers and 13 percent of part-time workers had access to flexible work schedules. (See chart 3.)

Chart 3 data table

Table 3. Percent of private industry workers with access to flexible work schedule by work status
Work status	2020	2021	2022	2023
Full-time	14%	16%	17%	17%
Part-time	10%	11%	11%	13%

Student loan repayment

Student loan repayment is considered available to employees when employers provide monetary support to employees for education they already obtained. Ongoing educational expenses are not included in the access estimates.

Among civilian workers, 2 percent of the lowest 10th average wage category and 11 percent of the highest 10th average wage category had access to student loan repayment in March 2023. (See chart 4.).

Chart 4 data table

Table 4. Percent of civilian workers with access to student loan repayment assistance by average wage category, March 2023
Average wage category	Percentage
All workers	5%
Lowest 10th	2%
Lowest 25th	2%
Second 25th	3%
Third 25th	5%
Highest 25th	10%
Highest 10th	11%

Access to student loan repayment assistance among private industry groups ranged from 1 percent for workers in construction to 9 percent for workers in financial activities in March 2023. (See chart 5)

Chart 5 data table

Table 5. Percent of private industry workers with access to student loan repayment by industry group, March 2023
Industry group	Percentage
All workers	5%
Financial activities	9%
Information	8%
Education and health services	8%
Manufacturing	6%
Professional and business services	5%
Other services (except public administration)	4%
Leisure and hospitality	3%
Trade, transportation, and utilities	2%
Construction	1%

Estimates are available for civilian workers, private industry workers, and state and local government workers by worker and establishment characteristics, and geographic areas. For more information, see the Classification Systems Used by the National Compensation Survey (NCS) page.

Technical Note

The Handbook of Methods: National Compensation Measures provides information on the survey design, calculations, weighting, and imputation methods used to produce estimates for the ECI, ECEC, and benefit publications. Information on calculating the reliability of estimates (standard errors) is also included in the calculation section.

Private industry estimates should not be directly compared with state and local government estimates as differences between these sectors stem from factors such as variation in work activities and occupational structures. Manufacturing and sales, for example, comprise a large portion of private industry work activities but are rare in state and local government.

BLS advises against making comparisons with previously published benefits estimates due to changes in weighting, effects from sample rotation, and changes in estimation and imputation methodology.

For all published estimates of cost, coverage, and provisions of employer-sponsored benefit plans see the Benefits publications page.

Additional Resources

END NOTES

⁽¹⁾ Flexible work schedule and student loan repayment estimates for the June 2019 reference period are available in Excel.

Last Modified Date: September 21, 2023