Employee benefits accounted for 16
percent of total U.S. employee compensation in 1989, up
from 8 percent in 1960. Between 1970 and 1989,
inflation-adjusted benefit spending per full-time
employee grew by 63 percent—from $2,970 to $4,842—while
average cash pay remained almost flat at near $25,000.
More than 80 percent of Americans
believe that employee benefits are "important"
or "very important" considerations when
choosing a job. Most would choose a job without benefits
over one with benefits only if offered $5,000 or more in
additional annual pay.
Fifty-four percent of all nonfarm
private-sector employees and 90 percent of all
public-sector employees worked for employers that offered
both health insurance and retirement benefits in 1988.
More than 79 percent of these "covered"
employees had moderate annual earnings of between $10,000
and $35,000.
Workers most likely to have
benefits include those working in the public sector or
for large private firms and those with higher earnings or
longer job tenure.
Seventy-six percent of all nonfarm
employees whose employers offered retirement benefits in
1988 participated in the plan that year. Eighty-one
percent of those whose employers offered health insurance
participated in the plan.
Among the 58 million nonfarm
employees eligible for sick leave in 1988, 59 percent
could receive full pay while sick, and 26 percent could
receive full or partial pay for more than 130 days.
