While about 70 percent of workers in private industry had access to employer provided medical care benefits in March 2009, only 25 percent of the lowest wage earners - those with average hourly wages in the lowest 10 percent of all private industry wages - had such access, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported. By contrast, nearly all workers with hourly wages in the highest 10 percent of all private industry wages had access to medical care benefits. 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.

These data are from the National Compensation Survey (NCS), which provides comprehensive measures of occupation earnings, compensation cost trends, and incidence and provisions of employee benefit plans. Farm and private household workers, the self-employed, and Federal government workers are excluded from the survey.

The following are additional findings:

* Medical care benefits were available to 71 percent of private industry workers, compared with 88 percent among State and local government workers. About half of private industry workers participated in a plan, less than the 73 percent of State and local government workers.

* Employers paid 82 percent of the cost of premiums for single coverage and 71 percent of the cost for family coverage, for workers participating in employer sponsored medical plans. The employer share for single coverage was greater in State and local government (90 percent) than in private industry (80 percent). For family coverage, the employer share of premiums was similar for private industry and State and local government, 70 and 73 percent, respectively.

* Among full-time State and local government workers, virtually all (99 percent) had access to retirement and medical care benefits. Of full-time workers in private industry, only 76 percent had access to retirement benefits and 86 percent to medical care. Part-time workers had less access to these benefits in both private industry and in State and local government; about 40 percent of part-time workers had access to retirement benefits and about 25 percent had access to medical care benefits.

* Sixty-seven percent of private industry employees had access to retirement benefits, compared with 90 percent of State and local government employees. Eighty-six percent of State and local government employees participated in a retirement plan, a significantly greater percentage than for private industry workers, at 51 percent. The NCS has broadened the definition of access to retirement benefits.

* Paid sick leave was available to approximately two-thirds of workers. Nearly 90 percent of State an local government workers had access, significantly greater than the approximately 60 percent of private industry workers.

The incidence of employee benefits varied by worker characteristics and by establishment characteristics. For example, 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). Also, patterns of incidence varied between private industry and State and local government. State and local government workers in service occupations have less access to medical care than 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).

Access to paid holidays and paid vacation leave was greater for professional and related workers in private industry (85 and 83 percent, respectively) than in State and local government (51 and 37 percent, respectively). This is due in part to the fact that in State and local government, teachers make up a larger percent of the professional and related occupations than in private industry. Teachers and other employees in educational services are commonly employed on the basis of 9-month contracts, and often do not receive formal paid holiday and vacation benefits.