Access to medical care benefits: private industry vs. State and local government

In March 2009, medical care benefits were available to 71 percent of private industry workers, compared with 88 percent among State and local government workers.

[Chart data—TXT]

Private industry workers in service occupations have less access to medical care benefits (46 percent) than private industry management, professional, and related workers (86 percent).

State and local government workers in service occupations also have less access to medical care than State and local government workers in management, professional, and related occupations (81 and 90 percent, respectively). The disparity between these two occupational groups is larger in private industry (46 and 86 percent, respectively).

Among full-time State and local government workers, virtually all (99 percent) had access to medical care benefits. Of full-time workers in private industry, only 86 percent had access to medical care.

Part-time workers had less access to these benefits in both private industry and in State and local government; about 25 percent had access to medical care benefits.

These earnings data are from the Employee Benefits Survey. To learn more, see "Employee Benefits in the United States, March 2009" (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL 09-0872. A worker with access to medical care benefits is defined as having an employer-provided medical plan available for use, regardless of the worker’s decision to enroll or participate in the plan.