Employee medical, retirement, and leave benefits, March 2012

Access to employer-provided medical and retirement benefits was greater in medium and large private industry establishments than in small establishments in March 2012. The rate of access to medical care benefits in small establishments (1 to 99 workers) was 57 percent, compared with 82 percent in medium-size establishments (100 to 499 workers) and 89 percent in large establishments (500 or more workers).

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Similarly, retirement benefits in private industry were available to 50 percent of workers in small establishments, 79 percent of workers in medium-size establishments , and 86 percent of workers in large establishments.

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Paid leave benefits followed a similar pattern. The difference was most pronounced in the availability of paid sick leave, which was offered to 52 percent of workers in small establishments, 66 percent of workers in medium-size establishments, and 82 percent of workers in large establishments.

These data are from the National Compensation Survey – Benefits program. To learn more, see "Employee Benefits in the United States — March 2012" (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL-12-1380. Employees are considered to have access to a benefit plan if it is available for their use. Participation is the percentage of employees who actually enroll in a benefit plan.