Full text of Employee Benefits in Medium and Large Firms : Employee Benefits in Medium and Large Firms, 1981 : Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 2140

The full text on this page is automatically extracted from the file linked above and may contain errors and inconsistencies.

U.S. Department of Labor
Bureau of Labor Statistics
August 1982
Bulletin 2140




DOCUMENT CO! I c r r m ' i
* ^

*>L l J I i i : !

$ P I b 1982
•-

uayLcn & Montgomery Co.
Library

Employee Benefits In Mddflum and
Large Fiirmss 1981
U.S. Department of Labor
Raymond J. Donovan, Secretary
Bureau of Labor Statistics
Janet L. Norwood, Commissioner
August 1982
Bulletin 2140







For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government P rinting Office
Washington, D.C. 20402 - Price $4.75

This bulletin presents results of a 1981 Bureau of La­
bor Statistics survey of the incidence and provisions of
employee benefits in medium and large firms. This sur­
vey—the third in an annual series—provides representa­
tive data for 21.5 million full-time employees in a
cross-section of the Nation’s private industries. It was
designed to provide the Office of Personnel Manage­
ment with information on benefits of private sector em­
ployees in order to compare them with benefits of Fed­
eral workers. The survey’s scope, therefore, is the same
as that of the Bureau’s annual National Survey of Pro­
fessional, Administrative, Technical, and Clerical Pay
which is currently used in the Federal pay comparabil­
ity process for white-collar workers. Appendix A pro­
vides a detailed description of the scope, statistical pro­
cedures, and definitions of terms used in the benefits
survey.
Although the benefits survey has relatively broad
coverage, it excludes the public sector and a number
of industries, such as agriculture, education, and health
services. It also excludes firms in Alaska and Hawaii;
establishments employing fewer than 50, 100, or 250




employees, depending on the industry; executive man­
agement; operating employees in constant travel status
(such as airline pilots); and part-time, temporary, and
seasonal employees. Because of these exclusions, the
data do not statistically represent all employees in the
United States, or even all employees in private industry.
The reader also is cautioned against comparing data
from 1979, 1980, and 1981 surveys. Due to the experi­
mental nature of the earlier surveys, differences in the
results reflect not only changes in benefit practices in
private industry, but also improvements in procedures
and techniques built into the survey each year. Never­
theless, several changes have been identified in this bul­
letin as demonstrating trends in benefit provisions.
This bulletin was prepared in the Office of Wages
and Industrial Relations by the staff of the Division of
Occupational Pay and Employee Benefit Levels.
Fieldwork for the survey was directed by the Bureau’s
Assistant Regional Commissioners for Operations.
Material in this publication is in the public domain
and may, with appropriate credit, be reproduced
without permission.




Page

Sum m ary............................................................................
Work schedules......................................
Paid lunch and rest periods .......................................................................................................
Paid holidays...............................................
Paid vacations...................................................................................................................
Personal leave ........................................................... ........................................................... ..
Short-term disability benefits..............................
Sick leave plans ......................................................................................................................
Accident and sickness insurance ..........................................................................................
Long-term disability insurance .................................................................................................
Health insurance....................................................................
Hospital coverage.................................... .................................................. ............ ............
Surgical coverage..................................................... ............................................................
Major medical coverage......................................................... ............. ...............................
Dental coverage.............................................
Vision c a re .................................................................................................
Mental health coverage......... .................................................................................................
Funding medium .........................................................
Life insurance .......................................................................................................................
Retirement pension p la n s....................................
Private benefits and social security payments ................................. ................................. ..
Normal retirement....................................................................................
Early retirement........................................................................................
Disability retirem ent................................................................................
Postponed retirem ent...........................................................................................
Cost-of-living adjustment...................
V esting.................................................................
Postretirement survivor benefits..............................
Preretirement survivor benefits ...................................................................
Participation requirements...............................................................
Other benefits .......................................................

1
2
2
2
2
2
3
3
3
4
4
4
5
5
5
6
6
6
6
7
7
7
8
8
8
8
9
9
9
9
10

Tables:
Percent of full-time employees (or participants), private industry, 1981:
1. Summary: Employee benefit programs ...................................... ............................. .
2. Work schedule: Number of hours per w e e k ................. .............................................
3. Paid lunch time: Number of hours per week ................................................................
4. Paid rest time: Number of hours per week .................................................................
5. Paid holidays: Number of days each y e a r...................................................
6. Paid holidays: Policy on holidays that fall on day o f f ..............................
7. Paid vacations: Number of days at selected periods of service ...................................
8. Paid holidays and vacations: Average number of days each year ...............................
9. Paid vacations: Length of service required to take vacation ......................................
10. Paid personal leave: Number of days each y e a r..........................................................
11. Short-term disability coverage: Type of p la n ...........................................................

11
11
11
11
12
12
13
14
14
14
14




v

Contents—Continued

Tables—Continued
Page
12. Paid sick leave: Type of provision...............................................................................
15
13. Paid sick leave: Number of days at selected periods of service......................................
16
14. Accident and sickness insurance: Type and duration of payments.................................
17
15. Accident and sickness insurance, percent of earnings formulas: Maximum weekly
benefit...........................................................................................................................
19
16. Long-term disability insurance: Method of determining paym ent................................
20
17. Health insurance: Provisions for selected categories of medical care............................
21
18. Health insurance, basic hospital benefits: Room and board benefit payments..........
22
19. Health insurance, basic surgical benefits: Maximum allowance for selected
procedures.........................................................................
20. Health insurance, major medical coverage: Amount of deductible..............................
24
21. Health insurance, major medical coverage: Coinsurance provisions.............................
24
22. Health insurance, dental benefits: Extent of coverage for selected procedures..........
25
23. Health insurance, dental benefits: Amount of deductible..............................................
26
24. Health insurance, dental benefits and orthodontic coverage: Maximumamount of
insurance .....................................................................................................................
26
25. Health insurance, vision benefits: Range of provided services......................................
27
26. Health insurance: Coverage for mental health c a re ........................................................
27
27. Health insurance: Funding medium................................................................................
28
28. Life insurance: Method of determining amount of basic life insurance, and
frequency of related coverages....................................................................................
28
29. Life insurance, multiple-of-earnings formulas: Amount of basic insurance and
maximum coverage provisions....................................................................................
29
30. Life insurance, flat dollar insurance: Amount of basic insurance.................................
30
31. Life insurance: Effect of retirement on coverage...................................................
30
32. Private pension plans: Method of determining retirement payments...........................
30
33. Private pension plans: Provision for integration or offset of social security benefits---31
34. Private pension plans: Minimum age and associated service requirements for
normal retirem ent.............................................................
35. Private pension plans: Minimum age and associated service requirements for early
retirement.....................................................................................................................
33
36. Private pension plans: Disability retirement provisions..................................................
34
37. Private pension plans: Credit for service after age 65 ....................................................
34
38. Private pension plans: Cost-of-living adjustment provisions........................................
35
39. Private pension plans: Vesting provisions.......................................................................
35
40. Private pension plans: Postretirement survivor an n u ity ................................................
36
41. Private pension plans: Preretirement survivor annuity..............................................
36
42. Accident and sickness insurance: Length of service requirement for participation ..
37
43. Long-term disability insurance: Length of service requirement for participation . . .
37
44. Health insurance: Length of service requirement for participation...........................
37
45. Life insurance: Length of service requirement for participation ...............................
37
46. Private pension plans: Age and service requirements for participation.....................
38
47. Other benefits: Incidence of eligibility.........................................................................
39
Appendixes:
A. Technical n o te .......................................................................................................................
41
B. Availability of the survey’s data b a s e ...............................................................................
45




vi

Employ®® i®(n®filts in
Slsdium aim larg® Firms,
d
1981

employees covered by the survey; (2) employees who
participated in a particular type of benefit plan; and (3)
employees covered by a particular type of provision
within a benefit area to provide a closeup look at an
important feature.

The 1981 benefits survey collected data on employee
work schedules and developed information on the in­
cidence and detailed characteristics of 11 private sec­
tor employee benefits paid for at least in part by the
employer: Paid lunch and rest periods, holidays, vaca­
tions, and personal and sick leave; accident and sick­
ness, long-term disability, health, and life insurance; and
private retirement pension plans. In addition, data were
collected on the incidence of 17 other employee bene­
fits, including stock, savings and thrift, and profit shar­
ing plans; employee discounts; educational assistance;
relocation allowances; and free or subsidized parking.
The major BLS findings are reported in this bulletin.
The survey covered full-time employees in medium
and large establishments (generally those with at least
100 or 250 employees, depending upon the industry).
Since data collection was limited to provisions of for­
mal plans, the extent of such benefits as rest periods
and personal leave may be understated. Furthermore,
the data show the coverage of benefit plans but not the
actual use of these benefits; for example, that part of
permissible paid sick leave actually taken.
Data are presented separately for three occupational
groups—professional-administrative, technical-clerical,
and production workers. The text of this bulletin often
discusses the first two groups jointly, labeled “white-col­
lar” workers.
Respondents provided information on the number of
workers covered by specified benefit plans. Workers
generally were counted as covered by plans that re­
quired a minimum amount of service prior to receiving
benefits, even if they had not met the minimum service
requirement at the time of the survey. Where
plans—such as health or life insurance—required an
employee to pay part of the cost (contributory plans),
workers were counted only if they elected the plan and
were paying their share of the cost. Data on insured
benefit plans and private retirement pension plans were
thus limited to “participants.” Plans for which only ad­
ministrative costs were paid by the employer were not
included in the survey.
Tabulations in the bulletin show the percent of em­
ployees covered by benefit plans or plan provisions.
Percentage computations differ with respect to the
group of employees serving as a base for the calcula­
tions. Three such employee groupings are used: (1) All



Summary

The great majority of full-time workers within the
scope of the 1981 survey of employee benefits were
provided with health and life insurance and private re­
tirement pension plans as well as paid holidays and va­
cations (table 1). The employer generally paid the full
cost of providing benefits. Provisions of many employee
benefits differed markedly between white-collar and
production workers.
On the average, employees received about 10 paid
holidays each year. The number of days of paid vaca­
tion, increasing with years of service, averaged nearly
16 days after 10 years and 21 days after 20 years.
Ninety-three percent of all employees had some pro­
tection against loss of income due to short-term disabil­
ity—either sick leave or accident and sickness insur­
ance, or both. Most employees also had some protec­
tion for extended income loss due to disability; 41 per­
cent had long-term disability insurance, and 50 percent
were covered under private pension plans that provided
immediate disability retirement benefits.
Virtually all of the participants in health insurance
plans were covered for the major categories of expenses
related to hospital and medical care. Three-fifths had
coverage for dental care, and slightly over one-fifth for
vision care.
Life insurance was provided for nearly all employ­
ees, most commonly for an amount equal to annual
earnings, rounded to the next $1,000.
Eighty-four percent of the employees in the survey
were covered by private retirement pension plans. Bene­
fits were most frequently based on earnings during the
last years of employment. Common eligibility require­
ments for normal retirement were: Age 65 with no
length-of-service requirement, age 62 with 10 years of
service, and 30 years of service with no age require­
ment. Virtually all covered employees could retire early
with a reduced pension, provided they fulfilled mini­
mum age and/or service requirements (most commonly,
age 55 with 10 or 15 years of service).
1

Funeral leave, military leave, parking (provided at
no cost or below commercial rates), and educational
assistance were available to over one-half of the em­
ployees. Fewer than one-fourth of the employees were
eligible for profit sharing, company automobiles for pri­
vate use, recreation facilities, and gifts.

When a holiday falls on a scheduled day off, such as
a Saturday or Sunday, another day off was regularly
granted to 87 percent of the white-collar employees and
77 percent of the production employees (table 6). An­
other 7 percent of the white-collar employees and 14
percent of the production employees received either
another day off or an additional day’s pay, depending
upon the day on which the holiday falls. Most of the
remaining participants regularly received an additional
day’s pay in lieu of the holiday.

Work schedules

Forty-hour straight-time weekly work schedules ap­
plied to 85 percent of the employees covered by the
survey (table 2).1 Twenty-one percent of the profes­
sional-administrative employees, 29 percent of the tech­
nical-clerical employees, and 5 percent of the produc­
tion workers had shorter work weeks. Less than 1 per­
cent of the work force was scheduled to work other
than a 5-day week.

Paid vaeaitons

After 25 years of service, full-time employees com­
monly received at least 25 days of paid vacation annu­
ally (table 7). Length-of-vacation provisions averaged
8.8 days after 1 year; 15.7 days after 10 years; and 20.5
days after 20 years of service (table 8). Plans covering
professional-administrative employees were generally
the most liberal. About 55 percent of the professional-ad­
ministrative employees, for example, became eligible
for at least 15 days of vacation after 5 years of service;
this compared with 33 percent of the production em­
ployees. Virtually all white-collar employees received
their regular salaries or earnings during vacation pe­
riods compared to seven-eighths of the production em­
ployees. The remaining production employees were
provided vacation payments based on a percentage of
annual earnings.
Nearly all of the employees covered by vacation plans
had to work for several months before being able to
take a vacation. The most prevalent length-of-service
requirement was 6 months for white-collar employees
and 1 year for production employees (table 9).
Anniversary year bonus vacation days were included
in the count of regular vacation time. Extended vaca­
tion plans, however, were excluded. These extended
plans principally covered production workers in the
steel, aluminum, and can industries. Under such plans,
employers contribute a specified amount to a fund that
provides 13 weeks of vacation every 5 years to “Sen­
ior Group” employees (the one-half of the employees
with longest continuous service) and 3 weeks, in addi­
tion to regular vacation, every 5 years to “Junior
Group” employees.

Paid lunch and r©sf periods

Ten percent of the employees received formal paid
lunch periods, and 75 percent were provided formal
paid rest time, for example, coffee breaks and clean-up
time (tables 3 and 4). Both benefits were more common
among production employees than among the two other
occupational groups. The incidence of paid rest time
ranged from 60 percent for professional-administrative
employees to 82 percent for production employees.
Only 4 percent of the white-collar workers had paid
lunch time compared to 15 percent of the production
workers. The study did not cover informal arrange­
ments.
Among those receiving paid rest periods, production
employees typically received 20 to 30 minutes a day,
while professional-administrative and technical-clerical
employees generally were eligible for 30 minutes. Most
commonly, paid rest was provided as two daily breaks
of 10 to 15 minutes each. Production employees who
were covered by paid lunch plans usually received 20
to 30 minutes a day.
Paid holidays

Virtually all full-time employees in each occupational
group were provided paid holidays, averaging about 10
days per year (table 5). Extended holiday plans, such
as the Christmas-New Year’s Day period provided in
the auto industry, floating holidays, and “personal holi­
days,” such as employee birthdays, were included in
the holiday plans reported.1
2
6
*

Personal leave

Formal personal leave, which allows employees to
be absent from work with pay for a variety of reasons
not covered by other specific leave plans, was provided
to nearly one-fourth of the employees. While nearly
one-third of white-collar employees received personal
leave, only one-seventh of the production employees
had this benefit. Most commonly, employees provided
personal leave were eligible for 2 to 5 days, averaging
almost 4 days per year (table 10). A small proportion
of employees, primarily in the professional-administra­
tive group, were provided as much personal leave as

1Work schedule data, limited to straight-time hours, included lunch
and rest periods only if they were paid. Regularly scheduled over­
time was excluded from work schedules in this survey.
2As a result of United Auto Workers agreements negotiated with
auto manufacturers in early 1982, 9 paid personal holidays plus 1 day
o f extra holiday pay in December were eliminated for many hourly
workers. In a similar move, 1 paid floating holiday in December and
6 to 9 supplemental vacation days were eliminated for many salaried
personnel. The 1982 employee benefits study will reflect these
changes.




2

Eighty-two percent of the workers covered by sick
leave plans received benefits beginning on the first day
of illness or disability. The remainder typically had to
wait 1 to 5 workdays, with the waiting period often
decreasing to zero after 10 to 15 years of service.
Accident and sickness insurance. Payments from acci­
dent and sickness insurance were either reflective of
earnings or were scheduled dollar amounts (table 14).
Of those workers covered by accident and sickness
plans, 60 percent of the production worker participants
and 84 percent of the white-collar participants could
receive a benefit based on earnings. These plans pay
either a percent of earnings (usually 50 to 70 percent)
or a dollar amount that varies by earnings. Plans with
percent of earnings formulas often had limits on the
amount of the weekly benefit. Seventy-one percent of
the workers in these plans would receive less than the
stated percent of earnings if the payment would exceed
a specified amount, which varied from under $80 to
over $300 (table 15).
Thirty-nine percent of production worker partici­
pants, on the other hand, were in plans paying fixed
weekly dollar sums. For these employees, the level of
insurance varied from less than $60 to over $140 a week,
with no high concentration of participants in any one
benefit bracket.
The number of weekly payments possible from an
employee’s accident and sickness plan was limited for
each disability. Fifty-three percent of all participants
could continue receiving benefits for 6 months, as long
as they remained unable to work. Although this pro­
portion was fairly consistent in all three employee
groups, the percentage of white-collar participants cov­
ered for one year or more was considerably lower than
among production worker participants.
Accident and sickness insurance plans usually require
an initial waiting period before payments are made from
the plan (often 7 days after the worker becomes sick
or injured). Nevertheless, workers frequently receive
payments immediately since many plans waive the wait­
ing period if the illness or injury results in hospitaliza­
tion or if absence is due to an accident. Also, workers
with sick leave often can use it to cover the waiting
period. For some employees, accident and sickness in­
surance begins the day after sick leave runs out in a
coordinated short-term disability benefit.
Workers in two States, New Jersey and New York,
are covered by mandatory temporary disability insur­
ance plans that are partially employer financed. Both
of these plans pay benefits based on a percentage of the
workers’ earnings for up to 26 weeks with a limit on
the weekly benefit ($95 in New York and $133 in New
Jersey in 1981).3

they needed with no maximum number of days speci­
fied. In cases where personal leave was part of an “an­
nual leave” plan and could not be shown separately, it
was reported as vacation time. The survey did not cover
the extent of informal personal leave.
Short-term disability benefits

Workers may be protected against loss of income due
to a short-term disability through paid sick leave, usu­
ally providing 100 percent of normal earnings, or acci­
dent and sickness insurance, usually providing 50 to 70
percent of earnings. A substantial proportion of workers
had both types of protection. Table 11 shows that ac­
cident and sickness insurance was most often provided
to production workers; nearly one-half of all produc­
tion workers in 1981 had this insurance alone, and an­
other one-fifth had it in combination with a paid sick
leave plan. In contrast, sick leave was more often a
benefit for white-collar workers; over six-tenths of these
workers had paid sick leave plans only, and another
three-tenths had both paid sick leave and accident and
sickness insurance.
Seven percent of all employees in the survey had no
short-term disability coverage. Production workers
were twice as likely as white-collar workers to be with­
out this protection.
Sick leave plans. The majority of employees under paid
sick leave plans had a specified number of days avail­
able each year for absence due to illness or injury (ta­
ble 12). The number of paid sick leave days, ranging
from 2 or 3 days to 120 days or more among the various
plans reported, increased only slightly with length of
service (table 13). White-collar workers commonly had
more liberal plans than production workers. For exam­
ple, white-collar workers most frequently had from 10
to just under 30 days of paid sick leave, while the most
common provisions for production workers were from
5 to just under 10 days.
Eighteen percent of all employees had limits on paid
sick leave for each disability. The number of days of
paid leave under a per-disability plan generally increased
sharply with length of service. For example, after 1
year of service, workers with this coverage commonly
had from 5 to 30 days per disability, while after 5 years,
the number usually ranged from 60 to 120 days; after
15 years of service, the most common coverage ex­
ceeded 120 days.
Most paid sick leave plans provided the employee
with full pay for at least a portion of the time while on
sick leave. In addition to the above full-pay coverage,
about one-fourth of the participants were in plans pay­
ing part of the employee’s regular salary after full-pay
provisions were exhausted. These partial pay provisions
were much more common in per-disability plans (50
percent) than in annual plans (15 percent).



(See footnote 3 on next page.)

3

covered for most categories of expenses related to hos­
pital and medical care (table 17). The only exceptions
were extended care5 and dental care (each covering
three-fifths of the participants) and vision care (cover­
ing slightly above one-fifth). Health plans included limits
on coverage, however, through deductibles, coinsur­
ance, or ceilings on benefits.6
Unlike most other employee benefits, there were few
differences in health insurance incidence among em­
ployee groups. Production workers, however, were
more likely to have coverage for vision care and less
likely to have coverage for physicians’ office visits and
private duty nursing. Dental coverage was somewhat
more prevalent in health benefits of professional-admin­
istrative employees.
The various categories of medical care are covered
under 1 of 3 benefit arrangements: Basic benefits only,
which generally have no deductible or coinsurance pro­
visions; major medical benefits only, which usually have
both deductible and coinsurance provisions; or basic
benefits plus major medical. The most expensive items
(hospital care, surgical care, and diagnostic X-ray and
laboratory services) were most commonly covered by
an arrangement that offered basic coverage plus sup­
plemental coverage under major medical benefits. Cer­
tain categories of medical care, such as private duty
nursing, visits to a physician’s office, and prescription
drugs, usually were covered only under major medical
benefits. Dental and vision care were almost exclusively
covered as basic benefits.

Long-term disability insurant©

Long-term disabilty insurance (LTD) continues the
income of employees during extended periods of dis­
ability. Generally, LTD begins after sick leave and ac­
cident and sickness insurance are exhausted and con­
tinues as long as the employee remains disabled, or until
retirement age.
Two-fifths of the employees studied were participants
in plans at least partially funded by the employer. The
degree of participation varied widely among the three
employee groups, from a majority of professional-ad­
ministrative workers and one-half of the technical-cleri­
cal workers to about one-fourth of the production
workers.3 However, many employees not covered un­
4
der LTD are eligible for an immediate disability pen­
sion through their retirement plan.
Long-term disability benefits were usually a fixed
percent of monthly pay integrated with payments from
social security and other government programs such as
workers’ compensation. Almost two-thirds of the par­
ticipants were guaranteed 50 to 60 percent of earnings
in effect when work ceased due to disability (table 16).
Nearly one-fourth of the participants were in plans
that provided a benefit which was not a fixed percent
of earnings, but was either a variable percentage of
earnings or a scheduled dollar amount dependent on
earnings, length of service, or length of disability. Pro­
duction employees were over two times as likely to be
covered under these formulas as white-collar
employees.
For slightly over two-thirds of the participants, LTD
benefits were limited by plan maximums, by ceilings on
income during disability, or by a combination of both.
Plan maximums commonly ranged from $1,500 to $4,000
per month. Ceilings on disability income affected bene­
fits only if the amount payable from the LTD plan plus
income from other sources, such as rehabilitative em­
ployment and family social security payments, exceeded
a specified percentage of predisability earnings (fre­
quently 70 to 75 percent).

Hospital coverage. The most costly component of
health care is that provided by a hospital. Nearly onehalf of all personal health care expenditures in the United
States are for hospital care.7Virtually all of the partici­
pants in health plans analyzed in this study received
coverage for hospital expenses; nearly nine-tenths had
these expenses covered at least in part by a basic bene­
fit. Of those that received basic hospital coverage, most
were in plans that paid room and board expenses up to
the semiprivate rate (table 18). By paying the semi­
private rate, rather than a specified dollar amount per
day, the participant was automatically provided some
protection against rising hospital charges.

Health snsurans©

Almost all of the workers covered by the survey
were provided health insurance. Nearly three-fourths
had health plans totally financed by their employer and
just under one-half also received noncontributory cov­
erage for their dependents.
Virtually all of the participants in health plans were

5Extended care includes medical care provided by an extended care
facility or home health care agency. This care is usually provided to
a patient who was previously hospitalized, but is recovering from an
illness and no longer in need o f the care provided by a general
hospital.
6The deductible is a specified amount o f medical expense that an
insured person must incur before benefits will be paid by the plan.
Coinsurance is a provision where both the (insured) participant and
the insurer share, in a specified ratio, the health care expenses result­
ing from an illness or injury. The coinsurance percentage is the share
paid by the plan.
1Health Care Financing Review, September 1981 (U.S. Department
o f Health and Human Services, Health Care Financing Administra­
tion), Volume 3, No. 1, Table 2A, p. 20.

3Both States permit an employer to substitute a private plan for the
State plan if the benefits provided are equivalent or more liberal. In
N ew York, many employers agree to pay the employee’s share of
plan costs. California and Rhode Island also have mandated tempo­
rary disability insurance plans, but these plans require no employer
contribution and thus are not included in this survey.
4For an indication o f the growth o f long-term disability coverage
during the 1970’s, see Mitchell Meyer, Profile o f Employee Benefits:
1981 Edition (N ew York, The Conference Board, Inc., 1981), p. 24.




4

Major medical benefits were not paid until the par­
ticipants paid a certain amount of the expenses, the de­
ductible portion. The deductible amount was usually
$100 or less, payable each year (table 20). Its purpose
was to keep the premium cost down and discourage
unnecessary use of medical services.
Once the worker had met the deductible requirement,
the plan paid a specified percentage (coinsurance) of
incurred expenses. Nine-tenths of the participants were
in plans that paid 80 percent of expenses, with the re­
maining 20 percent to be paid by the worker (table 21).
For three-fifths of the participants, however, the per­
centage paid by the plan increased to 100 percent after
a specified level of expenses was incurred during a year.
For example, a plan might pay 80 percent of the first
$5,000 of covered expenses and 100 percent thereafter,
thus limiting the employee’s “out-of-pocket” cost to
$1,000 (in addition to the deductible). By limiting pay­
ments on the initial covered expenses during an illness
or accident, insurers of major medical policies are able
to absorb the expenses of the infrequent catastrophic
illness without substantial increases in premium costs
to the employer or worker. The appeal of this type of
protection contributed to a 13-percentage-point increase
in “stop-loss” coverage between 1979 and 1981. Pro­
duction workers were less likely to have this provision
than' white-collar workers.

About nine-tenths of the participants in basic hospi­
tal plans had limited duration of coverage. Slightly over
seven-tenths had plans which specified the maximum
number of days covered per confinement, most com­
monly 120 or 365 days. Most of the remaining plans
limited the duration of coverage by specifying a maxi­
mum dollar amount per confinement.8 The great ma­
jority of hospital stays fall within these basic plan limi­
tations. Additional coverage was usually available un­
der a major medical benefit for cases that exceeded
these limitations.
Although in the vast majority of cases hospital ex­
penses are covered by basic benefits alone or in com­
bination with major medical, there is some movement
toward covering these expenses only under major medi­
cal insurance. In 1981, 13 percent of the participants in
health insurance plans had only major medical cover­
age for hospital room and board (subject to coinsurance
provisions), compared with 7 percent in 1979.
Surgical coverage. Like hospital room and board
charges, surgical benefits were most often covered by
basic benefits. One-fourth of participants, however, re­
ceived payments for surgery only under the cost-shar­
ing provisions of a major medical plan. This appeared
to be an upward trend, similar to the rise noted previ­
ously for hospital expenses.
Three-fifths of the participants with basic surgical
benefits were in plans covering the physician’s fee up
to the “usual and customary” charge for the procedure
performed (table 19). The remainder were covered by
a schedule of payments for surgical procedures, listing
the maximum amount covered for each operation. Cov­
erage of surgical expenses varied only slightly by oc­
cupational group, with professional-administrative
workers receiving somewhat more liberal coverage than
the other groups.
Major medical coverage. Major medical benefits, pro­
vided to nine-tenths of the health insurance participants,
generally covered a wide range of medical services both
in and out of the hospital. There are two types of ma­
jor medical plans: One type supplements basic benefits
by covering expenses which exceed basic benefit limi­
tations or by covering expenses not paid by the basic
plan; the other type is comprehensive and stands alone
without basic plan coverage. About three-fifths of the
participants with major medical benefits had the sup­
plemental coverage and the remaining two-fifths had
the comprehensive coverage.9

Dental coverage. Employer-provided dental care has
increased in recent years. In 1981, three-fifths of the
participants in health insurance plans received cover­
age for dental expenses, compared with one-half two
years earlier.
Nearly all dental plans covered a wide range of serv­
ices including examinations, X-rays, and restorative pro­
cedures such as fillings, periodontal care, and inlays.
Participants in plans covering orthodontic expenses, at
least for dependent children, increased to 66 percent in
1981 from 62 percent the previous year (table 22).
Participants in dental plans were generally covered
in 1 of 3 ways: (1) A percentage of reasonable and cus­
tomary charges, (2) a schedule of cash allowances, or
(3) an incentive schedule. Coverage up to a percentage
of the reasonable and customary charge for a proce­
dure was the most common form. The percentage cov­
ered by a plan generally depended on the type of pro­
cedure performed. Lower cost procedures such as ex­
aminations and X-rays were usually covered at 80 or
100 percent. Fillings, surgery, and periodontal care were
most likely to be covered at 80 percent. More expen-

8This limitation was commonly found in “comprehensive major
medical plans.” These plans usually covered hospital expenses in full
up to a specified dollar amount per confinement (typically between
$2,000 and $5,000) and 80 percent thereafter. For this study, the fullcoverage portion was treated as a basic benefit and the 80-percent
portion as major medical.

9 Comprehensive major medical plans can be broken down into strict
and modified varieties. All expenses covered are subject to the de­
ductible and coinsurance provisions under the strict version whereas
the modified version might cover hospital, or hospital and surgical,
expenses in full up to a specified dollar amount without the applica­
tion o f a deductible. (Also see footnote 8.)




5

sive procedures—inlays, crowns, and orthodon­
tia—were often provided at 50 percent of the reasonable
and customary charge.
About one-fourth of the dental plan participants were
offered reimbursement based on a schedule of cash al­
lowances. In this type of arrangement, each procedure
was subject to a specified maximum dollar amount that
could be paid to the participant. Preventive procedures
were less likely to be subject to this type of schedule
than restorative procedures.
Three percent of dental plan participants had serv­
ices covered by an incentive schedule. Under this ar­
rangement, the percentage of dental expenses paid by
the plan increased each year if the participant was ex­
amined regularly by a dentist.
Unlike other basic benefits, a slight majority of the
participants in dental plans were required to pay a speci­
fied deductible amount before the plan paid any bene­
fits (table 23). The most common requirement was a
$25 or $50 deductible to be met by the participant each
year. However, some plans required the participant to
pay a deductible (usually $50) only once while a mem­
ber of the plan rather than every year. White-collar
workers were more likely than production workers to
have plans with deductible requirements.
Eighty-eight percent of dental plan participants were
enrolled in plans that limited the amount of payment
each year by specifying a yearly maximum benefit (ta­
ble 24). The most common maximums were $1,000,
$750, and $500. Orthodontic services usually were sub­
ject to a lifetime maximum, most commonly $500. How­
ever, the incidence of lifetime maximums of $1,000 for
orthodontia grew by 50 percent between 1980 and
1981—to 21 percent of participants in dental plans.

medical portion of a plan where there were often ceil­
ings on the amounts payable for mental health care for
each visit and/or each year, and where the coinsurance
for nonhospital treatment of mental illnesses was often
50 percent, compared to 80 percent for physical
illnesses.
Funding medium. Commercially insured plans pre­
dominated in all the health benefit areas; the heaviest
concentration was in major medical plans (table 27).
Blue Cross-Blue Shield was an important funding me­
dium for basic benefits, but was less important in fund­
ing major medical benefits. Some firms paid for medi­
cal expenses of their employees directly out of their
own funds (self-insured). Although only 18 percent of
the health insurance participants had some portion of
their plan (usually major medical) funded through selfinsurance, this funding arrangement gained importance
since 1979, particularly among production workers.
Only about 3 percent of health insurance participants
covered by the survey were enrolled in Health Main­
tenance Organizations.1
0
Life insurance

Nearly all full-time employees participated in life in­
surance plans in 1981; four-fifths had the cost of a ba­
sic plan paid entirely by the employer. The amount of
basic coverage for three-fifths of all life insurance par­
ticipants was based on earnings (table 28), enabling the
level of protection to automatically increase with a rise
in earnings. Earnings-based formulas were much more
prevalent among white-collar workers than among bluecollar workers. Employee contributions for earn­
ings-based coverage, when required, were commonly
expressed as a fixed rate for each $1,000 of insurance.1
1
The most common method of tying life insurance
protection to earnings was to multiply the employee’s
annual earnings by a factor of 1 or 2 and round the
product to the next $1,000. About one-half of all em­
ployees in multiple-of-earnings plans had insurance
equal to annual earnings, with over three-tenths having
coverage equal to twice annual earnings (table 29). Pro­
fessional-administrative employees were more likely
than the other groups to have insurance equal to two
or more times earnings. There was no upper limit on
insurance for a majority of participants in plans based
on earnings.
Most of the remaining life insurance plan participants
(one-third) received a fiat amount of insurance, regard-

Vision care. About one-fifth of the participants in
health insurance plans received some form of vision
care benefits. The type and number of services covered
varied, with most of the participants in plans featuring
coverage for eye examinations, eyeglasses, and contact
lenses (table 25). Production workers were the most
likely to receive vision care benefits and had the most
liberal benefits; nearly four-fifths of those covered by
vision plans received this range of services.
Mental health coverage. For two-fifths of the partici­
pants in plans with mental health benefits, coverage for
hospital care was subject to more stringent limitations
than for hospitalization due to other illnesses (table 26).
This restriction was usually on the duration of the hos­
pital stay (often only 30 days for mental health care as
compared to 120 or 365 days for other illnesses). Even
more restrictive was coverage for mental health care
outside the hospital (i.e., psychiatric office visits); less
than one-tenth of the participants had this type of care
covered to the same extent as other illnesses. Outpatient
mental health care was usually covered in the major



1 A Health Maintenance Organization is a prepaid health care plan
0
that delivers comprehensive medical services through its ow n pro­
viders (physicians, hospitals, etc.) to an enrolled population for a fixed
periodic fee.
1 Rates commonly ranged from 6 cents to 60 cents per $1,000. The
1
more expensive plans frequently accumulated an amount o f perma­
nent life insurance, which remained in force after leaving employ­
ment without further payment o f premiums.

6

plans with terminal earnings formulas typically provide
the highest rate of earnings replacement and those with
dollar-amount formulas generally pay the least com­
pared with preretirement earnings.
Coverage varied by occupational group; the percent
of employees provided pension plans was somewhat
lower for production workers than for the other two
groups (82 percent compared with 88 for profes­
sional-administrative and 85 percent for technical-cleri­
cal). In addition, the basis of payment differed sharply
for production workers. While a large majority of
white-collar workers were provided pension plans based
on final earnings, dollar-amount formulas applied to
over half of the production employees. Although some
shift away from terminal earnings formulas was ob­
served between 1980 and 1981, this should not be con­
sidered a trend. The shift was mainly due to one large
case where final earnings were changed to a career
earnings formula for salaried workers and to a dol­
lar-amount formula for hourly employees.
Thirty-two percent of all participants were in pen­
sion plans providing benefits from either primary or al­
ternative formulas, whichever was greater, down from
42 percent in 1980. Alternative formulas were often in­
cluded to provide at least a minimum level of benefits
for persons with short service or low earnings.

less of earnings. One-half of all production worker par­
ticipants were covered by a uniform amount, compared
with less than one-fifth in each of the other two groups.
Two-thirds of the workers with a flat amount of life
insurance were provided at least $5,000 but less than
$20,000 of coverage (table 30). White-collar employees
had a larger concentration of participants insured for
flat amounts of $20,000 or more than blue-collar
employees.
In the event a participant became totally disabled,
life insurance in virtually every plan was either contin­
ued for life, or was payable to the employee in lump­
sum or installment form. To qualify under disability
provisions, the employee was usually required to be be­
low a specified age (commonly age 60) at the time of
disability.
About three-fourths of all life insurance participants
had additional insurance coverage if accidental death
or dismemberment occurred. The amount of insurance
was usually doubled in the case of accidental death.
In addition to basic coverage, some employers of­
fered their workers supplemental life insurance that was
at least partially employer financed. Only a small por­
tion of employees were participants in these plans,
which generally required employees to share in the
financing.
Another kind of coverage available to the workers
was life insurance on their spouses or unmarried de­
pendent children. This type of coverage is becoming
more popular; nearly one-fifth of life insurance partici­
pants had dependent coverage in 1981, up 50 percent
since 1980. In most cases the employee paid part of the
cost.
After retirement, basic life insurance coverage was
continued for life for almost two-thirds of all partici­
pants (table 31). However, for only 1 in 20 was the
preretirement amount of insurance continued in full.
The face value was reduced once, either upon or after
retirement, for one-third of participants; for one-fourth,
the benefit amount was periodically reduced as the re­
tiree grew older. Other forms of life insurance—acci­
dental death and dismemberment, supplemental, and de­
pendent coverage—were seldom available after
retirement.

Private benefits and social security payments. Employers
providing private pension plans share the cost of the
social security coverage equally with their employees.
Because many plan sponsors feel that private pension
and social security benefits should not be duplicative,
formulas for calculating private pensions often contain
an offset provision requiring part of the social security
pension to be subtracted from the annuity. Other plans
have “integrated” formulas that replace less of an em­
ployee’s earnings on which social security taxes were
paid (the tax base), and more of the earnings in excess
of this base. Forty-three percent of all participants were
in plans with offset provisions or integrated formulas,
a slight decline from 1980; most of these were in plans
using terminal earnings formulas (table 33). An offset
or integration provision seldom applied to alternative
formulas available within plans.
Normal retirement. Forty-four percent of all partici­
pants were covered by plans that specified age 65 as
the earliest age for retirement with full benefits (normal
retirement), and most of these employees were in plans
with no service requirement (table 34). Plans permit­
ting normal retirement at earlier ages (usually 60 or 62)
typically had length-of-service requirements.
Fourteen percent of all participants were covered by
plans permitting retirement at any age with 30 years of
service, up from 11 percent in 1980. The shift, which
affected only technical-clerical and production workers,

ReSSrememit p©sisi©n plains

Eighty-four percent of the employees in the survey
were covered by private retirement pension plans, with
the employer usually paying the entire cost. Sixty-six
percent of covered employees were in plans with re­
tirement payment formulas based on earnings (table 32).
Most often the formula used earnings in the final years
of employment (terminal earnings formula), although
16 percent of participants had plans that used an aver­
age of career earnings. For 32 percent of pension plan
participants, dollar-amount formulas applied. Pension



7

Production workers with disability retirement cov­
erage were usually in plans with immediate benefits,
while white-collar workers were equally likely to be
covered by deferred disability retirement benefits. The
latter group was usually provided with long-term dis­
ability benefits ranging from 50 to 60 percent of earn­
ings or more at the time of disability—more than gen­
erally provided by pension plans with immediate dis­
ability retirement.1 Furthermore, most deferred retire­
2
ment benefits were greater than immediate pensions,
primarily because the time during which long-term dis­
ability benefits were paid was typically added to an
employee’s length of service for computation of pen­
sion benefits.
Requirements for disability retirement were usually
based on specified years of service such as 10 years or
more. Over one-sixth of the participants, however, had
no age or service requirement, and nearly one-fifth had
to meet the qualifications for the LTD plan, which usu­
ally had a minimal service requirement.

was also due to a change in a major pension plan cov­
ering hourly employees where “any age after 30 years
of service” was added as an alternative requirement. (If
a plan had alternative age and service requirements, the
earliest age and associated service were tabulated; if
one alternative did not specify an age, it was the for­
mula tabulated.)
Early retirement. Virtually all of the employees par­
ticipating in a pension plan could retire early and re­
ceive an immediate, reduced pension (table 35). The
amount of an early retirement pension is lower for two
reasons: First, fewer years of service are applied to the
benefit formula because an employee has not worked
until normal retirement age. Second, because benefits
begin at an earlier age, the retiree is expected to receive
plan payments over a longer period of time. The nor­
mal benefit is either adjusted on an actuarial basis or
reduced by a percentage for each year between the ac­
tual and normal retirement ages. In some cases, em­
ployer approval is required for early retirement benefits.
The majority of participants were covered by plans
providing early retirement at age 55; generally, 10 to
15 years of service were required. One-tenth of the em­
ployees were in plans allowing early retirement at age
60 with 10 to 15 years of service; and another one-tenth
were in plans allowing early retirement at less than age
55, most often with 25 years of service.
A growing percentage of employees may first be­
come eligible for early retirement when their age and
years of service equal a specified sum. Age plus serv­
ice requirements therefore provide a range of possible
retirement dates for employees with long careers. Onetenth of pension plan participants qualified for an early
retirement if the sum of their age and service totaled
85.
White-collar employees generally were permitted to
retire earlier than production workers. Nearly fourfifths of the white-collar workers could, with specified
years of service, retire either at age 55 or at any age,
while three-fifths of the production workers had plans
with similar requirements.

Postponed retirement. Employees who continue on the
job after age 65 rarely receive private pensions until
their actual retirement. Moreover, postponed retirement
frequently is not reflected in the size of pension bene­
fits. Fifty-eight percent of all participants were in plans
with benefit formulas that excluded credit for all serv­
ice after age 65 (table 37). Of the 42 percent that re­
ceived credit for such service, 16 percent were subject
to limits on the number of credited years (frequently,
only years up to age 68 or 70). However, a number of
plans with earnings-based benefit formulas did recog­
nize earnings levels after age 65, even when service was
not credited for these years.
In contrast to early retirees, who typically receive
reduced pensions over an extended time period, late re­
tirees seldom receive pensions that are increased to
compensate for the shorter time they will draw bene­
fits. Only 6 percent of the participants were in plans
that actuarially adjust the size of pensions or increase
the payment by a specified percentage for each addi­
tional year beyond the normal retirement age.
Among employee groups, production workers were
more likely than white-collar employees to receive full
credit for service after age 65. This was particularly
true for those workers in multiemployer plans, estab­
lished by collective bargaining agreements and provid­
ing for employer contributions to the pension fund for
covered employees regardless of age.

Disability retirement. A career-ending disability may
entitle an employee to a pension at an earlier than nor­
mal age. If the disability satisfies the plan’s definition
of total disability, pension benefits often begin immedi­
ately. When other employer-provided sources of dis­
ability income are provided, such as long-term disabil­
ity insurance, the disability retirement benefit might be
deferred until other forms of income have ceased.
Eighty-eight percent of pension plan participants were
covered by disability retirement provisions in 1981 (ta­
ble 36). Employees in plans with immediate disability
retirement outnumbered those in plans with benefits de­
ferred to normal or early retirement age by 2 to 1.



Cost-of-living adjustment. Only about 3 percent of all
participants were in plans that provided for automatic
increases in pension benefits to compensate for rises in
1
2

For a more complete discussion o f disability retirement, see Donald

Bell and William Wiatrowski, “Disability Benefits for Employees in
Private Pension Plans,” Monthly Labor Review, August 1982.

8

elected, the employee will receive a lower benefit dur­
ing retirement since payments are likely to be made
over a longer period of time. When the retiree dies, the
spouse will receive part or all of the retiree’s monthly
pension benefits.
Joint-and-survivor benefits are based on an actuarial
or arithmetic reduction of the employee’s pension which
is necessary to allow for continuation of benefits to the
employee’s survivor. Eighty-five percent of the partici­
pants were in plans providing a surviving spouse 50
percent of the retiree’s actuarially adjusted pension, fre­
quently as one of several arrangements for spouse bene­
fits that could be chosen by the employee (table 40).

the cost-of-living (table 38).1 In most instances, the cost3
of-living adjustment formulas provided for benefit ad­
justments proportional to rises in the BLS Consumer
Price Index. Nevertheless, ceilings on individual in­
creases limited periodic adjustments to 3 percent or less
for over three-fifths of the covered workers. The per­
cent of covered employees with limits to cost-of-living
adjustments that were greater than 3 percent increased
slightly in 1981. As in 1980, most of the affected par­
ticipants were in plans calling for annual adjustments.
Lifetime ceilings on increases were rare.
Vesting. Even when an employee leaves an employer
without qualifying for either a normal, early, or disabil­
ity retirement benefit, a pension may ultimately be paid.
If certain conditions are satisfied at the time of separa­
tion, workers have a vested right in all or a significant
portion of their accrued pension benefits and may be­
gin receiving benefits years later. The Employee Re­
tirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) made
vesting a universal feature of private pension plans. Al­
though all pension participants are entitled to vested
benefits under ERISA, some variation exists as to when
this occurs. Most pension plans require 10 years of serv­
ice before benefits are fully guaranteed (table 39). While
two-thirds of the participants were covered by the 10year rule regardless of age, one-fifth were affected by
the plan sponsor’s right to exclude years of service be­
fore age 22 in determining vesting eligibility. A small
minority of the participants were in plans with a gradu­
ally increasing vesting schedule, requiring up to 15 years
for full vesting, but providing partial vesting after a few
years’ service.
Unreduced vested pension payments begin at a plan’s
normal retirement age, based on the benefit formula in
effect when an employee left the plan. However, nearly
all terminated and vested participants could receive a
reduced pension at an earlier age (usually the plan’s
early retirement age). This option was available to 71
percent of participants if they had just satisfied the mini­
mum vesting requirements when they left their plans.
Twenty-seven percent were not eligible for early start
of payments unless they had completed more years of
service than were required for vesting.

Preretirement survivor benefits. Nearly all participants
were in plans providing for survivor payments in case
the employee died before retirement. Employees usu­
ally had to be eligible for early retirement before any
death benefits were payable. For nearly three-fourths
of the participants, a surviving spouse would receive
an annuity equivalent to the amount payable if the em­
ployee had retired on the day prior to death and had
elected a joint-and-survivor form of payment (table 41).
Most survivor pensions of this nature were based on an
early retirement benefit and were provided at no cost
to the employee. However, for over one-fifth of those
employees having preretirement joint-and-survivor pro­
tection, it was available only if elected, and its cost paid
by the employee through a small deduction in the pen­
sion ultimately payable to either employee or spouse.
Participation requirements

The insurance and pension programs commonly
specify minimum length-of-service periods before em­
ployees may join a plan. These service requirements
often are nominal, coinciding with an employer’s pro­
bationary policy or the administrative time needed to
begin employer funding of benefits. Service require­
ments in some long-term disability insurance plans, how­
ever, are more restrictive, and are intended to limit the
number of covered workers and control employer costs.
Similarly, sponsors of pension plans frequently impose
age requirements which prevent younger or older
workers from participating.1
4
Insurance plans. The incidence of service requirements
did not vary significantly by benefit area, but was

Postretirement survivor benefits. The ERISA legislation
also requires that retirement plans allow employees to
elect a form of pension in which payments continue to
the spouse after the retiree’s death. When this type of
pension—called a joint-and-survivor annuity—is

1
4 A ge and service restrictions are not the only limitations on par­
ticipation in insurance and pension plans. Many firms limit these bene­
fits to persons with full-time and permanent employment status; others
have a more liberal requirement, such as a workweek o f 20 hours or
more. Some plans are available only to persons covered by another
plan; for example, life insurance plans that restrict eligibility to those
who also are enrolled in the company’s health insurance program. In
other cases, participation in one plan blocks eligibility for others, as
when several alternative health insurance plans are offered by the
employer.

1 Excluded are ad hoc postretirement increases in pensions which,
3
as opposed to automatic cost-of-living provisions, are one-time in­
creases in the benefits to all or some current retirees, and are not
linked to the Consumer Price Index. The frequency and character­
istics o f these increases are being examined in the 1982 survey of
employee benefits.




9

ployees, and 5 percent were in establishments that of­
fered the benefit to some but not all of this group. (Data
were not available for 6 percent.) The data in table 47
do not indicate, however, the proportion of employees
actually using or receiving a specific benefit.
Funeral leave, military leave, parking (provided at
no cost or below commercial rates), and educational
assistance were available to at least three-fifths of the
employees in each group. Employee discounts on pur­
chases of the employer’s goods or services and in-house
infirmary care were also important benefits, covering
at least two-fifths of the employees of each group.
Among the benefits surveyed, eligibility was lowest for
stock bonus plans, stock purchase plans, and employee
gifts. In addition, employee eligibility for use of a com­
pany-owned or leased automobile for personal business
was seldom found, but was provided more often to the
professional-administrative employees than to the other
two groups.
Incidence of several other benefits differed by em­
ployee group, with a larger proportion of profes­
sional-administrative employees usually covered. For
example, relocation allowances for transferred or newly
hired employees were available to four-fifths of the pro­
fessional-administrative employees but to only twofifths of the technical-clerical employees and one-fourth
of the production workers. Severance pay was offered
to over one-half of the white-collar employees, almost
twice the proportion of production employees covered.
Profit sharing, savings, stock bonus, and stock purchase
plans, available to a minority of workers in each em­
ployee group, were offered least often to production
workers.
A new feature of the 1981 data distinguishes between
full and partial defrayment of the cost of the benefit to
the employee for several of these benefits. Parking, for
example, was nearly always free for those employees
eligible for the benefit. Conversely, meals were gener­
ally provided at reduced cost, rather than free, to those
eligible. Fully paid relocation allowances were avail­
able to 3 out of 4 eligible white-collar employees but
to only one-half of the covered production workers.
For those employees provided recreational facilities,
one-half of the workers in each employee group were
eligible for full payment of the cost while the other half
jointly financed the cost of the benefit with the em­
ployer. Partial defrayment of employee educational ex­
penses was available to at least 40 percent of employ­
ees in each group, while full defrayment applied to 18
percent of the production employees, 27 percent of the
technical-clerical employees, and 30 percent of the pro­
fessional-administrative employees. Full educational as­
sistance included total cost for books, tuition, and fees,
but not necessarily for worktime lost due to attending
courses.

slightly lower among health insurance plan members
and highest for accident and sickness insurance (tables
42-45). Except for long-term disability insurance plans,
service requirements were usually only 1,2, or 3 months.
Those found in LTD plans were more restrictive, with
some ranging up to one year or more. Because of the
long-term nature of this benefit, employers have tradi­
tionally restricted eligibility to employees who have
demonstrated some attachment to the company.
For health and life insurance benefits, the incidence
of requirements varied markedly among the employee
groups. While somewhat more than one-half of profes­
sional-administrative employees could participate im­
mediately, almost two-thirds of all other employees had
some waiting period.
Private pension plans. Three-fifths of pension plan par­
ticipants were required to meet certain age or service
criteria (table 46). Minimum ages were required for a
significant proportion of covered employees, reflecting
the concern of plan sponsors about the costs of funding
retirement benefits. About one-third of the participants
had to meet both stipulated minimum age and service
requirements. ERISA legislation requires that em­
ployers who provide pension plans make them avail­
able to all full-time employees by the time they have
reached age 25 and completed one year of service. Many
plans with minimum age and service requirements, how­
ever, allowed participation at an earlier age. Service
requirements seldom exceeded one year, even when no
minimum age was specified.
Similarly, about three-fifths of all participants were
in plans with a maximum age, usually 59, beyond which
newly hired employees were not eligible. Maximum age
conditions are permitted under ERISA regulations as
long as the specified age is within 5 years of a plan’s
normal retirement age.
Both minimum and maximum participation require­
ment provisions occurred in plans covering two-thirds
of white-collar employees, and approximately one-half
of the production workers.
Other benefits

In addition to the major benefits previously discussed,
information was collected on a number of other bene­
fit plans, such as profit sharing, severance pay, and re­
location allowances. Table 47 shows the extent of cov­
erage for each employee group within individual estab­
lishments. Generally, benefits were either provided for
all workers or did not exist in an employee group within
an establishment. For example, 70 percent of the pro­
fessional-administrative employees were in establish­
ments that did not have profit sharing plans for this
employee group, 20 percent worked in firms that of­
fered these plans to all professional-administrative em­




10

Table 1. Summary: Percent of full-time employees by
participation1 in employee benefit programs, private
industry,2 1981

Employee benefit program

Profes­
sional
and
All em­
adminis­
ployees
trative
employ­
ees

Table 3. Paid lunch time: Percent of full-time employees by
hours of paid lunch time per week, private industry, 1981

Techni­
cal and Produc­
clerical tion em­
employ­ ployees
ees

Hours per week

Profes­
sional
and
All em­
adminis­
ployees
trative
employ­
ees

Techni­
cal and Produc­
clerical tion em­
employ­ ployees
ees

T otal..........................................
99
99
23
10
75
65

100
100
31
4
60
92

100
100
32
4
76
92

Accident and sickness insurance ....
Noncontributory3 ..........................
Long-term disability insurance..........
Noncontributory3 ..........................
Health insurance for employee........
Noncontributory3 ..........................
Health insurance for dependents.....
Noncontributory3 ..........................
Life insurance ....................................
Noncontributory3 ..........................
Retirement pension...........................
Noncontributory3 ..........................

50
41
41
32
97
71
94
48
96
81
84
79

30
22
61
47
98
67
96
45
98
81
88
81

35
26
52
40
96
58
91
36
95
78
85
80

66
55
28
23
97
79
94
55
96
82
82
77

100

100

100

Provided paid lunch tim e..................
Under 1.67 h ours........................
1.67 hours...................................
Over 1.67 and under 2.5 hours ...
2.5 hours .....................................
Over 2.5 hours ............................

99
99
14
15
82
41

100
10
1
4
(1
)
4
1

4
1
0

4
1
O

1
1

2
1

15
1
6
1
6
1

Not provided paid lunch time ..........

Paid:
Holidays.......................................
Vacations ....................................
Personal leave.............................
Lunch period................................
Rest tim e .....................................
Sick leave....................................

90

96

96

85

-

-

1 Less than 0.5 percent.
NOTE: Because of rounding, sums of individual items may not equal to­
tals. Dash indicates no employees in this category.

1 Participation is defined as coverage by a paid leave, insurance, or
pension plan. Employees subject to a minimum service requirement be­
fore they are eligible for a benefit are counted as participants even if they
have not met the requirement at the time of the survey. If employees are
required to pay part of the cost of a benefit, only those who elect the cov­
erage and pay their share are counted as participants. Benefits for which
the employee must pay the full premium are outside the scope of the sur­
vey.
2 See appendix for scope of study and definitions of occupational
groups.
3 Provided at no cost to employee.

Table 2. Work schedule: Percent of full-time employees by
number of hours scheduled per week,1 private industry,
1981

Work schedule

Profes­
sional
and
All em­
adminis­
ployees
trative
employ­
ees

Table 4. Paid rest time: Percent of full-time employees by
hours of paid rest time per week, private industry, 1981

Techni­
cal and Produc­
clerical tion em­
employ­ ployees
ees

Hours per week

Profes­
sional
and
All em­
adminis­
ployees
trative
employ­
ees

Techni­
cal and Produc­
clerical tion em­
employ­ ployees
ees

T otal..........................................
T otal..........................................
Hours per week:
Under 35 .....................................
35 .................................................
Over 35 and under 37.5.............
3 7 .5 ..............................................
Over 37.5 and under 4 0 .............
40 .................................................
Over 40 .......................................

100
1
4
1
7
3
85
1

100

(2
)
5
3
10
4
78
1

100
(2
)
7
2
14
6
71
(2
)

100

100

100

Provided paid rest time ....................
Under 1.25 hours........................
1.25 hours...................................
Over 1.25 and under 1.67 hours
1.67 hours...................................
Over 1.67 and under 2.5 hours ...
2.5 hours.....................................
Over 2.5 and under 3.33 hours ...
3.33 hours...................................
Over 3.33 hours ..........................

75
3
4
0
26
4
34
1
1
2

60
1
4
0
18
2
34
O
1
-

76
1
8
1
18
1
46
0
1
-

82
5
3
O
34
6
28
1
1
4

Not provided paid rest tim e .............

1
1
1
2
(2
)
94
1

1 Work schedule data, limited to straight-time hours, included lunch and
rest periods only if they were paid. Regularly scheduled overtime was ex­
cluded in this survey.
2 Less than 0.5 percent.

25

40

24

18

1 Less than 0.5 percent.

NOTE: Because of rounding, sums of individual items may not equal to­
tals.




100

100

NOTE: Because of rounding, sums of individual items may not equal to­
tals. Dash indicates no employees in this category.

11

Table 5. Paid holidays: Percent of full-time employees by
number of paid holidays provided each year, private
industry, 1981

Number of days

Profes­
sional
and
All em­
adminis­
ployees
trative
employ­
ees

Table 6. Paid holidays: Percent of full-time participants by
policy on holidays that fall on a regularly scheduled day off,
private industry, 1981

Techni­
cal and Produc­
clerical tion em­
employ­ ployees
ees

Holiday policy

Profes­
sional
and
All par­
adminis­
ticipants
trative
partici­
pants

Techni­
cal and Produc­
clerical tion par­
partici­ ticipants
pants

T ota l..........................................

100

100

100

100

T otal..........................................

100

100

100

100

Provided paid holidays .....................
Under 6 days..............................
6 days ..........................................
6 days plus 1 or 2 half days ......
7 days..........................................
7 days plus 1 or more half days
8 days ..........................................
8 days plus 1 or 2 half days ......
9 days ..........................................
9 days plus 1 or 2 half days ......
10 days ........................................
10 days plus 1 or 2 half days ....
11 days ........................................
11 days plus 1 or 2 half days ....
12 days ........................................
12 days plus 1 or 2 half days ....
13 days ........................................
13 days plus 1 or 2 half days ....
14 days ........................................
More than 14 days......................

99
2
4
0
8
O
7
O
10
2
29
1
16
1
7
(1
)
5
(1
)
1
5

100
1
3
0
6
0
7
1
9
3
31
1
16
1
6
0
7
0
1
4

100
1
5
0
10
0
11
1
15
4
26
1
14
1
5
O
4
0
1
2

99
3
4
0
8
(’)
5
O
9
1
29
1
16
0
8
O
5
O
1
7

Holiday is not observed ...................

1

1

1

1

Another day off granted...................

82

87

87

77

Additional day’s pay in lieu of
holiday............................................

4

2

3

6

Another day off or day’s pay,
depending on when holiday falls ...

11

7

7

14

Another day off or holiday not
observed, depending on when
holiday fa lls ....................................

1

2

2

1

Not provided paid holidays..............

1

(')

(')

Other provision applies1 ...................

(2
)

0

Holiday policy not determinable.......

(2
)

(2
)

(2
)

(2
)
1

1 Policy differs by holiday.
2 Less than 0.5 percent.

1

NOTE: Because of rounding, sums of individual items may not equal to­
tals.

1 Less than 0.5 percent.
NOTE: Because of rounding, sums of individual items may not equal to­
tals.




(2
)

12

Table 7. Paid vacations: Percent of full-time employees by amount of paid vacation provided at selected periods of
service, private industry, 1981

Vacation policy

T otal..........................................

Profes­
sional
and
All em­
adminis­
ployees
trative
employ­
ees
100

100

Techni­
cal and Produc­
clerical tion em­
employ­ ployees
ees
100

99

100

100

At 6 months of service:1
Under 5 d a ys..............................
5 days ..........................................
Over 5 and under 10 days .........
10 days ........................................
Over 10 days ..............................

8
36
8
4
1

5
45
15
6
3

6
48
13
4
(2
)

After 15 years of service:
5 days ..........................................
10 davs ........................................
Over 10 and under 15 days .......
15 days ........................................
Over 15 and under 20 days .......
20 days ........................................
Over 20 da ys...............................

30
2
60
2
2
2

(2
)
7
1
79
4
7
2

(2
)
13
1
81
3
2
(2
)

(2
)
49
3
42
1
1
2

Over 5 and under 10 days .........
10 days ........................................
Over 10 and under 15 days .......
15 days ........................................
Over 15 days..............................

4
2
79
7
5
4

(2
)
(2
)
80
4
9
6

1
(2
)
88
4
5
3

7
3
74
10
3
3

After 5 years of service:
Under 10 days ............................
10 days ........................................
Over 10 and under 15 days .......
15 days ........................................
Over 15 and under 20 days .......
20 days ........................................
Over 20 d a ys..............................

1
50
7
38
2
1
1

(2
)
37
7
47
3
3
1

(2
)
45
7
45
2
1
1

1
57
7
30
2
1
1

After 10 years of service:
5 days ..........................................
10 days ........................................
Over 10 and under 15 days .......
15 days ........................................
Over 15 and under 20 days .......
20 days ........................................
Over 20 da ys..............................

(2
)
7
1
69
6
13
4

(2
)
3
1
69
3
20
5

(2
)
4
1
76
3
13
3

(2
)
11
2
65
9
9
4

After 3 years of service:

(2
)
2
(2
)
27
6
61
4

(2
)
7
(2
)
35
4
46
5

(2
)
4
(2
)
10
1
56
2
21
4

(2
)
1
(2
)
7
1
60
3
22
5

(2
)
2
(2
)
8
1
66
2
17
3

(2
)
6
(2
)
13
1
49
2
22
4

(2
)
4
(2
)
9
1
31
2
43
2
5
1

(2
)
1
(2
)
7
(2
)
36
3
44
3
4
1

(2
)
2
(2
)
7
1
36
3
44
2
4
1

(2
)
6
(2
)
11
1
26
2
43
2
6
2

(2
)
4
(2
)
9
1
29
1
40
2
10
3

(2
)
1
(2
)
7
(2
)
34
2
39
3
11
2

(2
)
2
(2
)
7
(2
)
35
2
42
2
8
2

(2
)
6
(2
)
11
1
24
1
39
2
11
3

After 30 years of service:
5 days ..........................................
10 days ........................................
Over 10 and under 15 days .......
15 days........................................
20 days ........................................
Over 20 and under 25 days .......
25 days ........................................
Over 25 and under 30 days .......
30 days ........................................
Over 30 da ys..............................

1 Excludes situations where employees are credited with vacation
days during the first 6 months of service but, as a matter of establishment policy, must wait beyond 6 months before taking those days off.
2 Less then 0.5 percent.




(2
)
1
(2
)
25
5
61
8

After 25 years of service:
5 days ..........................................
10 days ........................................
Over 10 and under 15 days .......
15 days........................................
Over 15 and under 20 days .......
20 days ........................................
Over 20 and under 25 days .......
25 days ........................................
Over 25 and under 30 days .......
30 days ........................................
Over 30 d a ys...............................

11
27
4
2
1

(2
)
4
(2
)
31
5
53
6

After 20 years of service:
5 days ..........................................
10 days ........................................
Over 10 and under 15 days .......
15 days ........................................
Over 15 and under 20 days .......
20 days ........................................
Over 20 and under 25 days .......
25 days ........................................
Over 25 d a ys..............................

99

C)

Techni­
cal and Produc­
clerical tion em­
employ­ ployees
ees

100

In plans providing paid vacations at
qualifying periods of service..........

After 1 year of service:
Under 5 days..............................
5 days ..........................................
Over 5 and under 10 days ........
10 days ........................................
Over 10 and under 15 days .......
15 days ........................................
Over 15 days..............................

Vacation policy

Profes­
sional
and
All em­
adminis­
ployees
trative
employ­
ees

NOTE: Data include anniversary year and bonus days and exclude
extended vacations.

13

Table 8. Paid holidays and vacations: Average number of
days for full-time participants, private industry, 1981

All
partici­
pants

Professi­
onal and
admini­
strative
partici­
pants

Paid holidays.....................................

10.2

10.2

9.6

10.5

Paid vacation by length of service:
6 m onths.....................................
1 year...........................................
3 years.........................................
5 years.........................................
10 years ......................................
15 years ......................................
20 years ......................................
25 years ......................................
30 years1 .....................................

3.2
8.8
10.5
12.5
15.7
18.1
20.5
22.2
22.7

4.5
10.4
11.1
13.3
16.3
18.8
21.1
22.6
23.3

3.9
9.5
10.5
12.8
15.8
18.5
20.5
22.3
22.8

Table 10. Paid personal leave: Percent of full-time
employees by number of paid personal leave days provided
per year, private industry, 1981

2.3
7.7
10.3
12.0
15.4
17.7
20.2
21.9
22.4

Item

Techni­
cal and
clerical
partici­
pants

Produ­
ction
partici­
pants

Number of days

Profes­
sional
and
All em­
adminis­
ployees
trative
employ­
ees

Techni­
cal and Produc­
clerical tion em­
employ­ ployees
ees

T otal..........................................

100

100

100

Provided personal leave...................
Less than 2 days ........................
2 days ..........................................
3 days ..........................................
4 days ..........................................
5 days..........................................
More than 5 days........................
No maximum specified1..............

23
2
5
3
6
3
2
3

31
1
6
3
6
6
3
6

32
2
8
4
8
3
3
3

14
2
3
2
5
2
1
1

Not provided personal leave ...........

1 The average (mean) was essentially the same for longer lengths of
service.

100

77

69

68

86

1 Workers were provided as much personal leave as they needed.
NOTE: Computation of average included half days and excluded
workers with zero holidays or vacation days.

NOTE: Because of rounding, sums of individual items may not equal to­
tals.

Table 11. Short-term disability coverage: Percent of
full-time employees by participation in accident and sickness
insurance plans and paid sick leave plans and by type of
plan, private industry, 1981

Table 9. Paid vacations: Percent of full-time participants by
length of service required to take vacation, private industry,
1981

Length of service requirement

Profes­
sional
and
All par­
adminis­
ticipants
trative
partici­
pants

Techni­
cal and Produc­
clerical tion par­
partici­ ticipants
pants

T otal..........................................

100

100

100

98
6
2
8
2
39
2
40
0

97
9
3
11
2
45
1
25
-

98
8
2
9
2
49
3
26
-

99
4
1
6
1
31
2
53
(’)

Without service requirement............

2

3

2

1

Techni­
cal and Produc­
clerical tion em­
employ­ ployees
ees

100

With service requirement .................
1 month .......................................
2 m onths.....................................
3 months .....................................
4-5 months..................................
6 months .....................................
7-11 months................................
1 year...........................................
Over 1 ye a r.................................

Type of plan

Profes­
sional
and
All em­
adminis­
ployees
trative
employ­
ees

Service requirement not determinable ................................................

0

“

T otal..........................................

100

100

100

100

Accident and sickness insurance
only ................................................
Noncontributory1..........................

27
23

2
1

4
3

48
42

Paid sick leave o n ly..........................

42

64

61

23

24

28

31

18

17

20

23

14

7

6

4

11

Combined accident and sickness
insurance/paid sick leave.............
Noncontributory1 accident and
sickness insurance...................
No accident and sickness insurance
or paid sick leave...........................

0

1 Less than 0.5 percent.
1 Provided at no cost to employee.
NOTE: Because of rounding, sums of individual items may not equal to­
tals. Dash indicates no employees in this category.




NOTE: Because of rounding, sums of individual items may not equal to­
tals.

14




TabSe 12. Paid sick leave: Percent of full-time employees by
type of provision, private industry, 1981
Profes­
sional
and
All em­
adminis­
ployees
trative
employ­
ees

Provision

Techni­
cal and Produc­
clerical tion em­
employ­ ployees
ees

T otal..........................................

100

100

100

100

Provided sick leave...........................

65

92

92

41

46
15

58
26

65
21

32
8

3

4

5

1

1

4

1

0

35

8

8

59

Sick leave provided on:
An annual basis only1 ..............
A per disability basis only2 .......
Both an annual and per
disability basis .......................
No specified maximum number
of days3 .................................
Not provided sick leave....................

1 Employees earn a specified number of paid sick leave days per year.
This number may vary by length of service.
2 Number of days of paid sick leave is renewed for each illness or dis­
ability. This number may vary by length of service.
3 Unlimited sick leave, provided to employees as needed.
4 Less than 0.5 percent.
NOTE: Because of rounding, sums of individual items may not equal to­
tals.

15

Table 13. Paid sick leave: Percent of full-time employees by sick leave provisions, private industry, 1981

Sick leave policy1

Profes­
sional
and
All em­
adminis­
ployees
trative
employ­
ees

Techni­
cal and Produc­
clerical tion em­
employ­ ployees
ees

Sick leave provided
annually3 ...................................

100

100

100

92

92

41

49

63

70

32

10
15
10
O
1
2

7
20
19
1
2
5

15
25
16
1
0
1

9
8
2
(4
)
O
1

Sick leave provided
annually1
3
2
—Continued
Unused sick leave provisions:
Carry-over o n ly ................
Cash-in o n ly.....................
Cash-in and carry-over....
No provision ....................
Data not available...........

15
6
2
25
(4
)

17
2
1
44
0

24
6
3
37
(4
)

10
7
3
12

Sick leave provided on a per
disability basis6 .........................

18

30

26

9

Less than 1 year of service:
Under 5 days...................
5 and under 10 days .......
10 and under 30 days.....
30 and under 60 days.....
60 and under 120 days ....
120 days or more ...........

O
4
4
1
1
2

(4
)
8
6
1
3
6

O
7
6
1
1
2

After 1 year of service:
Under 5 days...................
5 and under 10 days .......
10 and under 30 days.....
30 and under 60 days.....
60 and under 120 days ....
120 days or more ...........

(4
)
3
5
2
1
2

O
6
6
5
3
7

1
5
8
3
2
2

2
2
(4
)
O
1

After 5 years of service:
Under 30 days.................
30 and under 60 days.....
60 and under 120 days ....
120 days or more ...........

2
3
9
3

3
4
14
8

4
4
13
4

1
1
6
1

After 10 years of service:
Under 30 days.................
30 and under 60 days.....
60 and under 120 days ....
120 days or more ...........

2
1
9
5

2
2
12
13

3
2
12
7

1
(4
)
6
1

After 15 years of service:
Under 60 days.................
60 and under 120 days ....
120 days or more ...........

2
4
11

3
7
20

4
6
15

1
2
5

60 and under 120 days ....
120 days or more ...........

2
4
11

3
6
21

4
5
15

1
2
6

After 25 years of service:5
Under 60 days.................
60 and under 120 days ....
120 days or more ...........

2
3
12

3
5
22

4
5
16

1
2
6

No maximum sick leave
specified7 ..................................

1

4

1

(4
)

Not provided sick leave....................

35

8

8

59

Less than 1 year of service:
5 and under 10 days ......
10 and under 30 days.....
30 and under 60 days.....
60 and under 120 days ....
120 days or more ...........
After 1 year of service:
Under 5 days...................
5 and under 10 days .......
10 and under 30 days.....
30 and under 60 days.....
60 and under 120 days ....
120 days or more ...........
After 5 years of service:
Under 5 days...................
5 and under 10 days .......
10 and under 30 days.....
30 and under 60 days.....
60 and under 120 days ....
120 days or more ...........

3
18
21
2
1
2
2
14
18
6
4
3

1
13
36
4
3
5

O
9
27
10
8
8

2
26
36
2
O
1
1
18
30
10
6
2

5
17
7
(4
)
(4
)
1
4
14
9
1
1
1

After 10 years of service:
Under 5 days...................
5 and under 10 days .......
10 and under 30 days.....
30 and under 60 days.....
60 and under 120 days ....
120 days or more ...........

2
14
17
5
5
5

O
9
24
8
11
11

1
17
28
9
8
5

4
14
8
2
2
1

After 15 years of service:
Under 5 days...................
5 and under 10 days .......
10 and under 30 days.....
30 and under 60 days.....
60 and under 120 days ....
120 days or more ...........

2
14
16
3
6
6

(4
)
9
23
4
12
14

1
18
27
7
9
8

3
14
8
1
2
2

After 20 years of service:
Under 5 days...................
5 and under 10 days .......
10 and under 30 days.....
30 and under 60 days.....
60 and under 120 days ....
120 days or more ...........

2
14
16
3
6
7

(4
)
9
23
4
11
15

1
17
27
6
8
9

3
14
8
1
3
2

After 25 years of service:5
Under 5 days...................
5 and under 10 days .......
10 and under 30 days.....
30 and under 60 days.....
60 and under 120 days ....
120 days or more ...........

1
14
16
3
4
9

0

1
17
27
6
6
11

2
16
8
1
2
3

1
2
O
C)
(4
)
0

After 20 years of service:

9
23
4
8
19

1 In addition to the full-pay provisions shown, some plans provided
sick leave at partial pay.
2 The total is less than the sum of the individual breakdowns be­
cause some employees were covered under both an annual and a per
disability plan.
3 Employees earn a specified number of sick days per year. This
number may vary by length of service.




Techni­
cal and Produc­
clerical tion em­
employ­ ployees
ees

100

65

T ota l..........................................

Sick leave policy1

Profes­
sional
and
All em­
adminis­
ployees
trative
employ­
ees

4 Less than 0.5 percent.
5 Provisions were virtually the same after longer years of service.
6 Sick leave is provided on a per illness or per disability basis. The
number of days may vary by length of service.
7 Unlimited sick leave provided to employees as needed.
NOTE: Dash indicates no employees in this category.

16

Table 14. Accident and sickness insurance: Percent of full-time participants by type and duration of payments,
private industry, 1981
Maximum weeks of coverage
Type of payment
Total

Less
than
13

13

1

10

5

53

2

2
1

3
1

1
(2
)
(2
)
-

14-25

26

27-51

52

Greater
than
52

Varies
by
service

Other1

All participants
All typ e s........................................

100

Fixed percent of earnings..........................
50-54 .....................................................
55-59 .....................................................
60-64 .....................................................
65-69 .....................................................
70 or m ore.............................................

41
15
1
11
9
6

(2
)
(2
)
(2
)
(2
)

1
1
(2
)

(2
)

28
12
1
5
7
3

Percent of earnings varies..........................
By service .............................................
By length of disability...........................
By both service and length of
disability ............................................
By earnings............................................

4
1
2

”

(2
)
(2
)

“

1
(2
)
(2
)

(2
)
(2
)

1
(2
)

“

“

“

1
(2
)

“

Fixed weekly dollar benefit.........................
Less than $60 .......................................
$60-$79.................................................
$80-$99 .................................................
$100-$11 9 .............................................
$120-$139 .............................................
$140 or more ........................................

32
7
4
5
5
6
5

(2
)
(2
)
(2
)
-

7
3
1
2
(2
)
(2
)

1
(2
)
1
(2
)
(2
)
(2
)

17
3
2
3
3
4
2

Weekly dollar benefit varies.......................
By earnings............................................
By service or length of
disability ..............................................

23
22

_
“

1
1

(2
)
(2
)

7
6

1

-

-

2

1

12
4
1

1
1

2

-

(2
)
(2
)
(2
)
(2
)
-

2
(2
)
1

“

2
1
(2
)

-

-

“

(2
)
“

-

(2
)
(2
)
(2
)
(2
)
<*)

4
(2
)
(2
)
(2
)
1
1
1

_
-

2
(2
)
(2
)
(2
)
2

_
-

ft
(2
)

11
10

(2
)
(2
)

4
4

_

(2
)

-

(2
)

17

-

(2
)

(2
)

11

1

13

6

1
(2
)
(2
)
-

8
3

1
(2
)
1
1
1

-

(2
)

1
-

-

Professional and administrative
All typ e s........................................

100

Fixed percent of earnings...........................
50-54 .....................................................
55-59 .....................................................
60-64 .....................................................
65-69 .....................................................
70 or m ore.............................................

70
26
1
18
14
11

Percent of earnings varies..........................
By service..............................................
By length of disability...........................
By both service and length of
disability ..............................................

9
2
5

_
-

2

-

Fixed weekly dollar benefit.........................
Less than $60 .......................................
$60-$79.................................................
$80-$99.................................................
$100-$11 9 ..............................................
$120-$139..............................................
$140 or more ........................................

14
3
1
3
2
3
1

(2
)
(2
)
-

Weekly dollar benefit varies.......................
By earnings............................................
By service or length of
disability ..............................................

7
7

_

(2
)

4

5

63

(2
)

1

1

5
1

47
22
1
11
11
2

(2
)
(2
)
-

1
-

1

-

1
(2
)
(2
)

-

_
“

_
-

4
1
1

_
-

-

-

-

-

1

-

-

(2
)
(2
)
(2
)
(2
)
-

9
2
(2
)
2
1
2
1

ft

_

4
4

2
1
1
(2
)
-

3

-

1

”

(2
)
(2
)

“

-

-

-

(2
)

(2
)
-

1
6
3

3
(2
)
1

_
-

1
_
-

2

_
_
-

-

_
-

ft
(2
)
(2
)

-

“

(2
)
(2
)

-

-

ft

-

1
(2
)

_

-

2
1

1

1
-

1

3

-

1

1
(2
)
(2
)
2
2

_

-

-

Technical and clerical
All typ e s........................................

100

Fixed percent of earnings...........................
50-54 .....................................................
55-59 .....................................................
60-64 .....................................................
65-69 .....................................................

68
26
1
18
13

1

9

6

61

1

3
(2
)
2
(2
)

5
1

45
22
1
7
10

1
(2
)

See footnotes at end of table.




17

3
-

2

7

1

13

0

1
-

4
_

1
(2
)

ft

(2
)
1

(2
)
1

(2
)

8
2
_
4
(2
)

ft

_
_
_

(2
)

Table 14. Accident and sickness insurance: Percent of full-time participants by type and duration of payments,
private industry, 1981—Continued
Maximum weeks of coverage
Type of payment
Total

Technical and clerical
Fixed percent of earnings—Continued
70 or m ore.............................................

Less
than
13

13

10

(2
)

ft

1

Percent of earnings varies..........................
By service..............................................
By length of disability............................
By both service and length of
disability ..............................................

6
2
3

_
-

(2
)
(2
)

2

-

-

Fixed weekly dollar benefit.........................
Less than $60 .......................................
$60-$79.................................................
$80-$99.................................................
$100-8119..............................................
$120-$ 139..............................................
$140 or more ........................................

18
5
3
4
2
3
1

(2
)
(2
)
-

5
1
1
1
(2
)
(2
)

Weekly dollar benefit varies.......................
By earnings............................................
By service or length of
disability ..............................................

8
8

-

1
1

-

ft

14-25

26

27-51

52

5
-

-

ft
I2
)

-

(2
)

1

-

-

(2
)
(2
)
(2
)
(2
)
-

11
3
1
3
1
2
(2
)

ft
ft
-

(2
)
(2
)

2
2

1
1

ft
ft

-

(2
)

Varies
by
service

3

2
1
1

-

Greater
than
52

1
-

2
1
-

_
-

1

ft
ft
ft

1

-

_

1

_

-

2
2

-

Other1

-

ft
ft
ft
2
2

ft
ft

_
-

ft

ft

-

-

Production
All types........................................

100

Fixed percent of earnings...........................
50-54 .....................................................
55-59 .....................................................
60-64 .....................................................
65-69 .....................................................
70 or m ore.............................................

29
10
1
7
7
4

ft
(2
)
(2
)
-

-

-

1
1
(2
)

Percent of earnings varies..........................
By service..............................................
By length of disability...........................
By both service and length of
disability ..............................................
By earnings............................................

2
1
1

-

_
-

(2
)
(2
)

_

_

_

-

-

Fixed weekly dollar benefit.........................
Less than $60 .......................................
$60-$79.................................................
$80-$99 .................................................
$100-$11 9 ..............................................
$120-$139..............................................
$140 or more ........................................

39
8
5
6
6
7
7

1
(2
)
(2
)
-

8
4
1
2
(2
)
(2
)

30
29

-

2
1

(2
)
(2
)

2

-

1

-

Weekly dollar benefit varies.......................
By earnings............................................
By service or length of
disability ..............................................

1

12

4

49

2

21

ft

11

ft

2
1

2
1

1

1

ft
ft
-

ft
ft

2
ft

1
(2
)

19
7
1
4
5
2

1

ft

ft
-

-

1

ft
ft
-

_
-

1
(2
)
(2
)

ft
ft

_
-

_
-

1
1
1

_
-

(2
)
0

_

_

_

-

-

-

-

2
(2
)
1
(2
)
(2
)
(2
)

20
3
2
4
4
5
2

ft
ft
ft
ft
ft

5
ft
ft
ft
1
1
2

1 Part of an income protection plan that continues payment
throughout disability. However, after 39 weeks of collecting payments, total disability must be certified.
2 Less than 0.5 percent.




8
8
(2
)

-

1
1
-

1
ft

_
-

15
14

ft
ft

ft

-

ft
3
ft
ft
3
5
5
ft

_
-

_
-

_
-

NOTE: Because of rounding, sums of individual items may not
equal totals. Dash indicates no employees in this category,

18

Tab!© 15. Accident and sickness insurance: Percent of full-time participants with benefits based on percent of
earnings formula h y maximum weekly benefit, private industry, 1981
Maximum weekly benefit
Type of payment

Total

Total
with
maximum

No
maximum

Less
than
$80

$80
to
$99

$100
to
$119

$120
to
$139

$140
to
$159

$160
to
$199

$200
to
$249

$250
to
$299

$300
or
more

1

10

4

12

29

1

0
-

10
2
1
5
2
1

4
(1
)
1
1
0
1

11
2
3
4
2

22
4
9
2
7

-

-

-

All participants
T o ta l........................................

100

71

1

19

3

15

6

Fixed percent of earnings ..............
50-54 ..........................................
55-59 ..........................................
60-64 ..........................................
65-69 ..........................................
70 or m ore.................................

92
33
2
24
20
13

70
29
2
16
18
6

1
1

3
1

15
1
0
2
10
1

6
3

0
-

19
19
-

Percent of earnings varies .............

8

1

-

-

T o ta l........................................

100

69

0

25

3

10

1

Fixed percent of earnings ..............
50-54 ..........................................
55-59 ..........................................
60-64 ..........................................
65-69 ..........................................
70 or more.................................

89
33
1
24
18
13

68
29
1
16
17
5

0
0
-

25
25
-

3
(1
)
1
1
1

10
0
1
9
-

1
1
0
0
0

Percent of earnings va ries.............

11

-

-

-

-

-

1
0
1
-

0

3
1
0
-

0
1

8

0

Professional and administrative

0

1

10

1

-

10
1
8
1
1

1
2
(1
)
0

-

-

-

1

4

13

31

4

13
1
2
6
3

21
4
8
2
8

0

10

0

Technical and clerical
T o ta l........................................

100

69

(1
)

24

3

15

6

Fixed percent of earnings ..............
50-54 ..........................................
55-59 ..........................................
60-64 ..........................................
65-69 ..........................................
70 or m ore.................................

91
35
1
24
17
14

68
32
1
13
15
7

0
(1
)
0
-

24
24
-

3
1

15
0
3
9
2

6
4

Percent of earnings varies .............

9

1

-

-

Total ........................................

100

72

1

12

4

17

Fixed percent of earnings ..............
50-54 ..........................................
55-59 ..........................................
60-64 ..........................................
65-69 ..........................................
70 or m ore.................................

93
31
2
24
23
12

72
27
2
17
20
6

1
1

4
2

-

12
12
-

-

-

-

-

17
3
(1
)
2
11
O

Percent of earnings varies .............

7

-

-

1
1
0
-

-

-

1

7

1

7
1

-

1
-

-

-

3
2
1
-

11

31

3

10
2
4
2
2

23
3
11
2
7

1

8

4

12

28

4

11
2
3
5
2

21
4
8
3
7

0
1
1

0
1

0
0

3

0
1
-

Production

0

1 Less than 0.5 percent.




0
0
-

1

0

9

1

12

9

1
1

12
3
1
5
3
1

2
5
1
1
-

0
0
-

-

0
1
1
-

1
-

0

6

NOTE: Because of rounding, sums of individual items may not
equal totals. Dash indicates no employees in this category.

19

Table 1® Long-term disability insurance: Percent of full-time participants by method of determining payment, private
.
industry, 1981
Professional and
administrative participants

All participants

Method
Total

With
Without
maxi­
maxi­
mum
mum
cover­
cover­
age pro­ age pro­
visions visions

Total

With
Without
maxi­
maxi­
mum
mum
cover­
cover­
age pro­ age pro­
visions visions

Technical and clerical
participants

Total

With
Without
maxi­
maxi­
mum
mum
cover­
cover­
age pro­ age pro­
visions visions

Production participants

Total

With
Without
maxi­
maxi­
mum
mum
cover­
cover­
age pro­ age pro­
visions visions

All m ethods...............................

100

69

31

100

72

28

100

75

25

100

59

41

Fixed percent of earnings........................
Less than 50 percent.........................
50 percent ..........................................
55 percent ..........................................
60 percent ..........................................
65 or 66.7 percent.............................
70 percent or m o re ............................

78
4
30
0
35
7
2

59
3
21
O
28
6
1

19
1
9
0
7
1
1

85
4
31

61
3
18

24
0
13

-

-

32
7
2

9
1
O

64
2
19
0
34
6
2

20
0
9
0
7
2
O

66
5
30
1
23
5
2

53
3
25
1
19
4
0

12
2
5

41
8
2

84
3
29
O
41
8
2

Percent varies by earnings......................

9

6

3

10

6

3

12

8

4

5

3

Percent varies by service........................

1

1

O

2

1

0

1

1

1

O

Scheduled dollar amount varies by
earnings ................................................

12

2

10

3

3

-

2

2

1

28

2

27

Other ........................................................

1

1

O

1

1

1

O

1 Less than 0.5 percent.




0

-

0

O

O

O

O

-

4
0
2
1
-

NOTE: Because of rounding, sums of individual items may not equal to­
tals. Dash indicates no employees in this category.

20

Table 17. Health insurance: Percent of full-time participants by coverage for selected categories of medical care, private
industry, 1981
Provided care
Category of medical care

Total

By basic
benefits and
major medical

Not provided
care

All

By basic
benefits only1

By major
medical only1
2

100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100

100
100
60
100
100
95
100
97
93
99
61
22

18
16
25
36
15
5
22
11
3
10
57
20

13
14
22
24
35
81
32
81
89
13
4
2

69
70
12
40
49
9
46
5
1
76
-

0
(3
)
40
(3
)
(3
)
5
(3
)
3
7
1
39
78

100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100

100
100
61
100
100
99
100
98
99
100
67
17

15
13
26
36
14
5
19
5
4
5
62
14

13
14
22
25
38
87
36
86
95
13
5
3

73
73
14
39
48
7
45
7
1
81
-

(3
)
(3
)
39
(3
)
(3
)
1
(3
)
2
1
(3
)
33
83

100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100

100
100
60
100
100
99
100
97
98
99
60
18

15
12
23
33
14
6
19
6
5
7
55
15

16
17
24
28
42
85
37
85
93
16
5
3

69
70
13
39
44
8
44
6
1
77

(3
)
(3
)
40
(3
)
O
1
0
3
2
1
40
82

100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100

100
100
59
100
100
90
100
96
88
99
59
26

20
19
27
38
17
5
24
17
3
15
56
24

12
13
21
22
31
76
28
76
85
12
3
2

68
69
11
40
52
10
48
3
<)
3
73

All participants
Hospital room and board...................................
Hospitalization—miscellaneous services..........
Extended care4 ..................................................
Surgical...............................................................
Physician visits—in hospital..............................
Physician visits—office ......................................
Diagnostic X-ray and laboratory........................
Prescription drugs...............................................
Private-duty nursing............................................
Mental health c a re .............................................
Dental..................................................................
Vision ..................... ............................................
Professional and administrative
Hospital room and board...................................
Hospitalization—miscellaneous services..........
Extended care4 ...................................................
Surgical...............................................................
Physician visits—in hospital ..............................
Physician visits—office ......................................
Diagnostic X-ray and laboratory........................
Prescription drugs...............................................
Private-duty nursing............................................
Mental health c a re .............................................
Dental..................................................................
Vision ..................................................................
Technical and clerical
Hospital room and board...................................
Hospitalization—miscellaneous services..........
Extended care4 ..................................................
Surgical...............................................................
Physician visits—in hospital..............................
Physician visits—office ......................................
Diagnostic X-ray and laboratory........................
Prescription drugs...............................................
Private-duty nursing............................................
Mental health c a re .............................................
Dental..................................................................
Vision ..................................................................

-

-

Production
Hospital room and board...................................
Hospitalization—miscellaneous services..........
Extended care4 ..................................................
Surgical...............................................................
Physician visits—in hospital..............................
Physician visits—office ......................................
Diagnostic X-ray and laboratory........................
Prescription drugs...............................................
Private-duty nursing............................................
Mental health c a re .............................................
Dental..................................................................
Vision ..................................................................

1 A provision was classified as a basic benefit when it related to the
initial expenses incurred for a specific medical service. Under these pro­
visions, a plan paid covered expenses in one of several ways: (1) In
full with no limitation; (2) in full for a specified period of time, or until a
dollar limit was reached; or (3) a cash scheduled allowance benefit that
provided up to a dollar amount for a service performed by a hospital or
physician. For a specific category of care, a plan may require the par­
ticipant to pay a specific amount each disability or year (deductible) or a
nominal charge each visit or procedure (copayment) before reimburse­
ment begins or services are rendered.
2 Major medical benefits cover many categories of expenses, some




-

-

(3
)
(3
)
41
(3
)
(3
)
10
(3
)
4
12
1
41
74

of which are not covered under basic benefits and others for which ba­
sic coverage limits have been exceeded. These benefits are character­
ized by deductible and coinsurance provisions.
3 Less than 0.5 percent.
4 Medical care provided by an extended care facility or home health
care agency. This care is usually provided to a patient who was previ­
ously hospitalized and is recovering without need of the extensive care
provided by a general hospital.
NOTE: Because of rounding, sums of individual items may not equal
totals. Dash indicates no employees in this category.

21

Table 1©. Health insurance: Percent of full-time participants in plans with basic hospital room and board coverage by
type of benefit payments, private industry, 1981
Subject to limit on days of coverage per hospital confinement
Type of payment

Total
All

Under 120
days

120 days

121 - 364
days

365 days

366 days
or more

Subject to
other
limits1

Unlimited

All participants
Total .................................................

100

72

13

18

3

30

6

19

9

Daily dollar allowance..............................
Semiprivate ra te .......................................

8
92

8
64

5
9

2
17

(2
)
3

1
29

(2
)
6

(2
)
19

Total .................................................

100

68

10

20

3

32

4

22

10

Daily dollar allowance..............................
Semiprivate ra te .......................................

4
96

3
65

2
8

1
19

(2
)
3

1
32

4

(2
)
21

10

Total .................................................

100

66

11

22

3

27

4

22

12

Daily dollar allowance..............................
Semiprivate ra te .......................................

6
94

6
60

2
8

2
20

1
3

1
25

(2
)
4

(2
)
22

12

Total .................................................

100

76

16

16

4

31

9

18

6

Daily dollar allowance..............................
Semiprivate ra te .......................................

11
89

10
66

7
9

2
15

(2
)
4

1
30

(2
)
9

(2
)
17

_
9

P rofessional and adm inistrative

_

_

Technical and clerical

_

P roduction

1 Includes workers in plans where the basic benefit is limited by a
maximum dollar amount per confinement or per year, and other plans
where the limit on the number of days of coverage applies within a
specified time limit.




_
6

2 Less than 0.5 percent.
NOTE: Because of rounding, sums of individual items may not equal
totals. Dash indicates no employees in this category.

22




Table 19. Health insurance: Percent of full-time participants
in plans with basic surgical benefits by maximum allowance
fo r selected procedures, private industry, 1981
Profes­
sional
and
All par­
adminis­
ticipants
trative
partici­
pants

Maximum allowance

Techni­
cal and Produc­
clerical tion par­
partici­ ticipants
pants

T otal..........................................

100

100

100

100

Usual and customary charge...........

62

65

60

61

Maximum scheduled allowance .......

38

35

40

39

Most expensive surgical
procedure:
$200 or less...........................
$201-$300 ..............................
$301-$400 ..............................
$401-$500 ..............................
$501-$750 ..............................
$751-$1,000 ...........................
$1,001-$1,250........................
$1,251-$1,500........................
$1,501-$2,000........................
More than $2,000 .................

O
2
2
5
5
7
3
5
5
4

O
2
1
3
3
4
3
7
6
6

0

-

0

0
2
5
10
10
2
5
1

1
2
5
12
15
2
2
1

0

3
7
12
11
2
3
1

Tonsillectomy:
$50 or le ss.............................
$51-$100................................
$101-$150..............................
$151-$200 ..............................
More than $200.....................
Not determinable2 .................

2
16
14
3
2
2

2
12
13
4
3
2

2
12
19
3
1
3

2
19
12
2
2
1

Hysterectomy:
$200 or less...........................
$201-$300 ..............................
$301-$400 ..............................
$401-$500 ..............................
$501-$750 ..............................
More than $750.....................
Not determinable2 .................

1
8
6
7
11
2
4

O
5
4
7
11
4
5

1
5
5
8
14
2
5

1
11
7
7
9
2
2

Appendectomy:
$100 or less...........................
$101-$150 ..............................
$151-$200 ..............................
$201-$300 ..............................
$301-$400 ..............................
$401-$500 ..............................
More than $500.....................
Not determinable2 .................

2
1
3
3
7
4
8
7
4

2
3
6
7
8
3
3
4
3

3
9
12
9
2
2
1

1 Less than 0.5 percent.
2 Information necessary to classify was not provided.
NOTE: Because of rounding, sums of individual items may not equal to­
tals. Dash indicates no employees in this category.

23

Table 20. Health insurance: Percent of full-time participants in plans with major medical coverage by amount off deductible
and applicable benefit period, private industry, 1981
Professional and
administrative participants

All participants
Amount of deductible1

Technical and clerical
participants

Production participants

Benefit period
Total

1-year
period

Total .................................................

100

97

Based on earnings2 .................................

5

5

Flat dollar amount....................................
$ 2 5 ......................................................
$26-$49 ...............................................
$ 5 0 ......................................................
$51-$74...............................................
$ 7 5 ......................................................
$76-$99 ...............................................
$100 ...................................................
$125 ....................................................
$150 ...................................................
Over $150...........................................

95
2
1
23

92
1
1
23

O

(3)

5

Other
period

55

6

6

94
3
1
23

92
2
1
22

(3)

(3)

5
1
52

5
1
51

-

(3)

3
1
(3)

-

53
(3)

1
-

5
3

5
3

98

(3)

-

-

(3)

(3)

1-year
period

100

3

5

(3)

Total

6
3

-

(3)

Other
period

98

6

6

94
3
1
21

92
2
1
20

(3)

(3)

-

2
1
(3)

4

-

Other
period

54
8
3

97

5

5

95
2
1
25

92
1
1
25

(3)

(3)

-

(3)

6

-

53

-

100

2
1
_

(3)

(3)

1-year
period

-

(3)

(3)

Total

2

4

(3)

1

6
3

1 Amount of deductible described is for each insured person. However,
many plans contain a maximum family deductible. In some plans, the indi­
vidual and family deductibles are identical.
2 These plans have deductibles which vary by the amount of the partici­
pants’ earnings. A typical provision is 1 percent of annual earnings with a

1-year
period

100

2

Total

1

8
3

3
-

3
1
(3)

-

6

(3)

-

(3)

56

54

0

-

Other
period

(3)

2
3

-

(3)

2
-

2
3

-

(3)

maximum deductible of $150.
3 Less than 0.5 percent.
NOTE: Because of rounding, sums of individual items may not equal to­
tals. Dash indicates no employees in this category.

Table 21. Health insurance: Percent of full-time participants in plans with major medical coverage by coinsurance
provisions,1 private industry, 1981
Professional and
administrative
participants

All participants
Final coinsurance provision

Technical and clerical
participants

Production participants

Initial coinsurance
80 85 90
80 85 90
80 85 90
80 85 90
Oth­ To­
To­
Oth­ To­
Oth­ To­
Oth­
per­ per­ per­
per­ per­ per­
per­ per­ per­
per­ per­ per­
er tal
er tal
er tal
er
tal
cent cent cent
cent cent cent
cent cent cent
cent cent cent

Total ................................................

100

90

4

3

3 100

90

4

3

3 100

92

2

3

3 100

88

5

3

4

4

1

2

68

61

3

1

2

68

63

2

1

2

51

43

5

1

2

11
16
24
2
5
4

( 3)

(3)

-

0

-

13
15
24
2
7
3

(3)

(3)

13
16
25
4
7
3

(3)

(3)

8
11
17
5
7
3

7
10
16
2
5
3

(3)

1

1

(3)

-

31

28

(3)

Final coinsurance changes to 100
percent..................................................
When covered expenses2 within a
year reach:
$1-2000 .........................................
$2,001-$4,000 ..............................
$4,001-$6,000 ..............................
$6,001-$8,000 ..............................
$8,001-$10,000 .............................
More than $10,000 .......................

59

52

10
14
21
4
7
3

9
13
20
2
5
3

Final coinsurance changes to other than
100 percent ...........................................

1

Coinsurance unchanged ..........................

40

-

( 3)

(3)

(3)

(3)

-

11
18
25
5
5
4

1

( 3)

-

(3)

2

1

(3)

37

( 3)

30

27

( 3)

( 3)

( 3)

(a)

(3)

1
2
1

1

(3)

(3)

-

2

1

1

1 Coinsurance is the percent of covered expenses paid by the
plan. The balance is paid by the employee.
2 Amount of covered expenses described is for each insured per­
son. In rare cases, the limit for the individual and family are identical.




(3)

-

( 3)

1
2

1

0
( 3)

(3)

-

1
(3)

1

1

(3)

-

(3)

-

(3)

1
1

O

1
(3)

1
(3)

1

(3)

1

1

49

( 3)

45

1

( 3)
(3)

1

(3)

1
3
2

( 3)

( 3)

( 3)

( 3)

-

(3
)

1

( 3)

( 3)

2

2

3 Less than 0.5 percent.
NOTE: Because of rounding, sums of individual items may not
equal totals. Dash indicates no employees in this category.

24

Table 22. Health insurance: Percent of full-time participants in plans with dental benefits by type of procedure and extent of
coverage, private industry, 1981

Type of dental procedure

Total

Sched­
Incen­
uled
tive
cash
sched­
allow­
ule1
ance

Percent of reasonable and customary charge
Total

50

60

61-74

75

80

85

90

91-99

100

Not
cov­
ered

All participants
Examinations................................
Dental X-rays................................
Fillings...........................................
Dental surgery..............................
Periodontal care...........................
Inlays.............................................
Crowns..........................................
Orthodontia...................................

100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100

17
18
29
27
26
28
29
14

100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100

19
20
31
29
28
30
30
16

100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100

19
20
34
33
30
32
33
16

100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100

15
15
26
24
23
25
26
12

3
3
3
3
3
1
1
-

80
79
68
69
68
68
68
53

1
1
3
3
5
31
32
44

1
1
1
2
2
4
4
3

1
1
1
1
1
1
1
(2
)

4
4
5
5
4
1
1
(2
)

25
27
33
33
31
14
13
2

(2
)
7
8
7
8
6
6
(2
)

2
10
10
10
10
7
7
(2
)

(2
)

47
28
7
9
7
3
3
3

(2
)
(2
)
(2
)
3
3
2
34

77
76
65
68
67
66
66
54

1
1
4
4
6
35
35
46

1
1
2
2
3
5
6
4

1
1
1
1
(2
)
1
1
(2
)

3
3
3
3
3
1
1

27
29
38
37
35
13
13
1

(2
)
4
6
6
7
4
4
(2
)

1
6
6
6
6
3
3
(2
)

_

43
31
5
9
7
3
3
3

(2
)
(2
)
(2
)
2
3
2
29

77
76
62
63
63
63
63
47

0
(2
)
3
3
5
32
32
37

1
1
2
2
3
5
6
3

1
1
1
1
(2
)
2
2
(2
)

4
4
4
4
4
1
1
2

27
30
35
35
33
13
13
2

(2
)
3
4
4
4
3
3
(2
)

2
5
5
5
5
3
3
(2
)

42
31
6
8
8
3
2
2

(2
)
(2
)
(2
)
2
3
3
37

83
82
72
73
71
72
72
54

1
1
2
2
4
29
29
47

1
1
1
1
1
3
3
2

(2
)
(2
)
1
1
1
1
1
(2
)

5
5
6
6
6
1
1
(2
)

23
25
30
30
29
14
14
2

(2
)
10
11
9
11
9
9
(2
)

2
15
14
14
14
11
11
(2
)

Professional and administrative
Examinations................................
Dental X-rays................................
Fillings...........................................
Dental surgery..............................
Periodontal care............................
Inlays............................................
Crowns..........................................
Orthodontia...................................

4
4
4
3
3
1
1
-

-

(2
)

-

Technical and clerical
Examinations................................
Dental X-rays................................
Fillings...........................................
Dental surgery..............................
Periodontal care...........................
Inlays.............................................
Crowns..........................................
Orthodontia...................................

4
4
4
4
4
1
1
-

-

-

(2
)

_

Production
Examinations................................
Dental X-rays................................
Fillings...........................................
Dental surgery..............................
Periodontal care............................
Inlays.............................................
Crowns..........................................
Orthodontia...................................

2
2
2
2
2
1
1
-

1 Reimbursement arrangement in which the percentage of dental expenses paid by the plan increases if regular dental appointments are
scheduled.
2 Less than 0.5 percent.




_

-

51
26
7
10
7
3
3
3

_

(2
)
(2
)
3
3
2
34

NOTE: Because of rounding, sums of individual items may not equal totals. Dash indicates no employees in this category,

25

Table 23. Health insurance: Percent of full-time participants
in plans with dental benefits by deductible provision,1 private
industry, 1981
Profes­
sional
and
All par­
adminis­
ticipants
trative
partici­
pants

Type of deductible2

Techni­
cal and Produc­
clerical tion par­
partici­ ticipants
pants

T otal..........................................

100

100

100

100

Subject to basic dental deductible ...

54

60

60

48

Yearly deductible.........................
Linder $ 2 5 ..............................
$ 2 5 .........................................
$26-$49 .................................
$ 5 0 .........................................
Over $ 5 0 ................................

43
0
20
2
18
3

49
(3
)
24
3
19
3

47
(3
)
19
3
19
5

38
(3
)
18
2
17
2

Lifetime deductible......................
$ 2 5 .........................................
$ 5 0 .........................................
Over $50 ................................

11
1
10
(3
)

11
1
9
(3
)

14
1
12
(3
)

10
1
9
1

Subject to major medical
deductible.......................................

2

2

3

2
1

Subject to copayment provisions.....

(3
)

(3
)

0

No deductible or copayment...........

43

37

36

50

1 Excludes separate deductibles for orthodontic procedures.
2 Amount of deductible described is for each insured person. In some
plans, the individual and family deductibles are identical.
3 Less than 0.5 percent.
NOTE: Because of rounding, sums of individual items may not equal to­
tals.

Table 24. Health insurance: Percent of full-time participants in plans with dental benefits and in plans with orthodontic
coverage by maximum amount of insurance, private industry, 1981
Yearly maximum for all procedures excluding orthodontia

Lifetime maximum for orthodontia

All
participants

Professional
and
administrative
participants

Technical
and clerical
participants

Production
participants

All
participants

Professional
and
administrative
participants

Technical
and clerical
participants

Production
participants

T otal.................................

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

Maximum specified..................
Less than $500 ..................
$500 ....................................
$501-$749 ...........................
$750 ....................................
$751-$999 ...........................
$1,000.................................
$1,001-$1,499 .....................
$1,500 .................................
Greater than $1,500 ..........

88
1
12
2
22
1
43
2
3
2

87
1
12
2
20
1
45
2
2
2

85
1
15
2
19
1
40
2
3
2

90
1
11
2
24
1
44
2
3
3

95
1
31
8
18
13
21
1
1
1

95
1
30
4
28
8
22
1
1
(2
)

96
1
32
5
19
6
27
4
1
1

95
1
32
11
12
20
18
1
1
1

No maximum............................

12

13

15

10

5

5

4

5

Dollar amount1

1 Amount of maximum specified is for each insured person.
2 Less than 0.5 percent.




NOTE: Because of rounding, sums of individual items may not equal
totals.

26

Table 25. Health insurance: Percent of full-time participants
in plans with vision benefits by extent of benefits, private
industry, 1981
Profes­
sional Techni­
and
cal and Produc­
All par­
adminis­ clerical tion par­
ticipants
partici­ ticipants
trative
pants
partici­
pants

Benefit

T otal..........................................

100

100

100

100

Eye examinations only......................

11

19

21

6

Examinations and eyeglasses..........

9

9

10

9

Examinations, eyeglasses, and
contact lenses................................

69

60

49

78

Orthoptics only1 ................................

6

9

11

4

Other combinations...........................

5

3

9

4

1 Exercises to improve the function of the eye muscles.
NOTE: Because of rounding, sums of individual items may not equal to­
tals.

Table 26. Health insurance: Percent of full-time participants in plans with mental health benefits by extent of benefits,
private industry, 1981
Professional and adminis­
trative participants

All participants

Technical and clerical
participants

Production
participants

Coverage limitation
Hospital
care

Outpatient
care

Hospital
care

Outpatient
care

Hospital
care

Outpatient
care

Hospital
care

Outpatient
care

Total ...........................................

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

With coverage....................................

100

93

100

94

100

94

100

92

Covered the same as other
illnesses.....................................

59

10

63

8

61

9

57

11

41
30
15

83
21
62

37
26
14

86
20
64

39
28
16

85
23
63

43
33
15

81
20
61

1
2

54
12

1
1

57
11

2
1

56
10

1
2

51
13

Subject to separate limitations1 ....
Limit on days or visits............
Limit on dollars.......................
Major medical coinsurance
limited to 50 percent...........
Other limitations......................
Not covered........................................

(2
)

7

(2
)

1 The total is less than the sum of the individual items because
many plans had more than one type of limitation on mental health cov-




6

(2
)

erage.
2 Less than 0.5 percent.

27

6

(2
)

8

Table 27. Health insurance: Percent of full-time participants by funding medium for selected types of coverage, private
industry, 1981
Basic
hospital1

Basic
surgical1

Major
medical2

Dental

Basic
hospital1

Basic
surgical1

T o ta l.............................................

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

Provided...............................................
Blue Cross-Blue Shield .................
Commercial carrier.........................
Independent prepaid health
organization3 ...............................
Self-insured....................................
Combined.......................................

87
28
42

76
22
37

66
22
30

91
10
61

61
2
46

84
26
42

72
20
36

59
20
26

95
10
65

60
2
43

3
14
1

3
13
O

3
11
C)

18
1

1
12
O

3
12
1

4
12
(4
)

4
9
0

O
18
1

1
13
O

Not provided ........................................

13

24

34

9

39

16

28

41

5

40

T ota l.............................................

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

Provided...............................................
Blue Cross-Blue Shield .................
Commercial carrier.........................
Independent prepaid health
organization3 ...............................
Self-insured....................................
Combined.......................................

87
27
45

75
19
41

62
19
32

96
9
68

67
2
51

88
29
41

78
25
36

70
25
31

86
10
56

59
3
45

3
11
1

3
11
1

3
8
1

O
16
1

1
13
O

2
15
1

2
15
O

2
12
(4
)

0
19
1

1
11
0

Not provided ........................................

13

25

38

4

33

12

22

30

14

41

Funding medium

Basic
medical1

All participants

Major
medical2

Dental

Technical and clerical

n

Professional and administrative

1 A plan provision was classified as a basic benefit when it covered
the initial expenses incurred for a specific medical service. Under these
provisions, a plan paid covered expenses in one of several ways: 1) In
full with no limitation: 2) in full for a specified period of time, or until a
dollar limit was reached; and 3) a cash scheduled allowance benefit
that provided up to a dollar amount for a service performed by a hospi­
tal or physician. For a specific category of care, a plan may require the
participant to pay a lump sum amount each disability or year (deduct­
ible) or a nominal charge each visit or procedure (copayment) before re­
imbursement begins or services are rendered.
2 Major medical benefits cover many categories of expenses, some




Basic
medical1

Production

of which are not covered under basic benefits, and others for which ba­
sic coverage limits have been exhausted. These benefits are character­
ized by deductible and coinsurance provisions.
3 Independent prepaid health organizations include plans recognized
as Health Maintenance Organizations as defined by the Health Mainte­
nance Organization Act of 1973, and other organizations which deliver
health care under a prepayment plan.
4 Less than 0.5 percent.
NOTE: Because of rounding, sums of individual items may not equal
totals.

Tabi© 28. Life insurance: Percent of full-time participants
by method of determining amount of basic life insurance
and frequency of related coverages, private industry,
1981
Profes­
sional
and
All par­
adminis­
ticipants
trative
partici­
pants

Item

Techni­
cal and Produc­
clerical tion par­
partici­ ticipants
pants

T otal..........................................

100

100

100

100

Basic life insurance1 .........................
Based on earnings......................
Multiple..................................
Graduated schedule .............
Flat amount.................................
Based on service........................
O ther............................................

100
62
43
19
34
4
(2
)

100
82
63
19
14
4
(2
)

100
76
59
17
19
4
(2
)

100
46
26
20
50
4
-

With extended coverage during total
and permanent disability...............

99

99

99

99

With accidental death and
dismemberment coverage.............

72

69

66

76

With dependent coverage................

18

16

19

19

1 A few participants received only accidental death and dismemberment
insurance.
2 Less than 0.5 percent.
NOTE: Because of rounding, sums of individual items may not equal to­
tals. Dash indicates no employees in this category.

28

Table 29. Life insurance: Percent of full-time participants in plans with multipie-of-earnings formulas by amount of basic
insurance and maximum coverage provisions, private industry, 1981

Formula

Total

In plans
without
maximum
coverage

In plans with maximum coverage
All

Less than
$50,000

$50,000$99,999

$100,000$249,999

$250,000 or
more

All participants
T otal...................................................................

100

56

44

Life insurance is equal to annual earnings times:
Less than 1.0..........................................................
1.0 ...........................................................................
1.1-1.4......................................................................
1.5 ...........................................................................
1.6-1.9 ......................................................................
2.0 ...........................................................................
More than 2 .0 .........................................................

2
46
O
8
O
35
8

2
30
0
3
19
3

1
16
0
5
O
17
5

T otal...................................................................

100

56

44

Life insurance is equal to annual earnings times:
Less than 1.0..........................................................
1 .0 ...........................................................................
1.1-1.4......................................................................
1.5 ...........................................................................
1.6-1.9 ......................................................................
2.0 ...........................................................................
More than 2 .0 .........................................................

2
40
(’)
9
0
40
9

2
24
0)
4
22
4

0
16
O
5
(1
)
18
5

T otal...................................................................

100

54

46

Life insurance is equal to annual earnings times:
Less than 1.0..........................................................
1.0 ...........................................................................
1.1-1.4......................................................................
1 .5 ...........................................................................
1.6-1.9 ......................................................................
2.0 ...........................................................................
More than 2 .0 .........................................................

2
44
0
8
0
36
9

1
28
0
3
17
5

1
16
0
5
O
19
4

T otal...................................................................

100

59

41

Life insurance is equal to annual earnings times:
Less than 1.0..........................................................
1 .0 ....................................... ....................................
1.1-1.4......................................................................
1 .5 ...........................................................................
2.0 ...........................................................................
More than 2 .0 .........................................................

3
53
1
7
30
6

2
37
0
2
17
1

1
16
1
5
13
5

7

22

11

1
1

1
3
1

1
10
3
7
1

(1
)
2
(1
)
1
6
2

3

8

22

12

1
1

3
1
3
1

0
10
2
8
2

3

7

24

12
-

3
-

0
1
0

2
-

Professional and administrative

(1
)
1
0

O
3
0
1
6
2

Technical and clerical

-

0

1
1

3
1

0
10
4
8
1

4

7

21

1
0

3
1
-

2
0
1
8
2

Production

1 Less than 0.5 percent.




-

0)
2
-

2
-

1
1

1
2
2

1
10
3
6
1

8

O
2
1
0
4
1

NOTE: Because of rounding, sums of individual items may not equal
totals. Dash indicates no employees in this category.

29

Tabs® 30. Lif® insurance: Percent of full-time participants in
plans with flat dollar insurance by amount ©f basic
insurance, private industry, 1981

Amount of insurance

Profes­
sional
and
All par­
adminis­
ticipants
trative
partici­
pants

Table 32. Private pension plans: Percent off full-time
participants1 by method of determining retirement payments,
private industry, 1981

Techni­
cal and Produc­
clerical tion par­
partici­ ticipants
pants

Basis of payment2

Profes­
sional
and
All par­
adminis­
ticipants
trative
partici­
pants

Techni­
cal and Produc­
clerical tion par­
partici­ ticipants
pants

T ota l..........................................

100

100

100

100

T ota l..........................................

100

100

100

100

Less than $2,000 ..............................
$2,000-$4,999 ...................................
$5,000-$9,999 ...................................
$10,000-$14,999 ...............................
$15,000-$19,999 ...............................
$20,000 and o ve r..............................

7
22
35
29
3
4

6
22
33
28
3
8

6
19
43
24
1
7

7
22
34
30
4
3

Terminal earnings form ula...............
No alternative form ula................
Terminal earnings alternative.....
Career earnings alternative ........
Dollar amount alternative3...........

50
26
5
4
15

70
37
7
5
19

68
44
5
5
14

32
11
3
4
14

Career earnings formula...................
No alternative form ula................
Career earnings alternative ........
Dollar amount alternative3...........
Percent of contributions
alternative..................................

16
10
O
6

23
14
0
9

18
12
0
6

11
6
(4
)
5

(4
)

(4
)

-

(4
)

32
29
3

6
5
(4
)

12
12
(4
)

53
48
5

O

(4
)

O

(4
)

NOTE: Because of rounding, sums of individual items may not equal to­
tals.

Dollar amount formula3 .....................
No alternative form ula................
Dollar amount alternative3...........
Percent of contributions
alternative..................................

Table 31. Life insurance: Percent of full-time participants in
basic life insurance plans by effect off retirement on
coverage, private industry, 1981

Effect of retirement

Percent of contributions formula......
No alternative form ula................

100

100

Insurance continues..........................
Continued in full for life ..............
Continued in full; ceases during
retirement.................................
Reduced once; continues for lifeReduced once; ceases during
retirement.................................
Reduced more than once during
retirement; continues for life ....
Reduced more than once;
ceases during retirement .........

64
5

66
6

64
J
R

63
4

1
33

1
28

1
32

1
36

0

0

0

O

25

30

26

22

O

0

0)

(1
)

36

34

36

37

Insurance discontinued immediately .

100

1
1

1
1

2
2
1
1

NOTE: Because of rounding, sums of individual items may not equal to­
tals. Dash indicates no employees in this category.

1 Less than 0.5 percent.
NOTE: Because of rounding, sums of individual items may not equal to­
tals.




1
1

(4
)
(4
)

1 Excludes supplemental pension plans.
2 Alternative formulas are generally designed to provide a minimum
benefit for employees with short service or low earnings.
3 Includes formulas based on dollar amounts for each year of service
and schedules of benefits that vary by length of service.
4 Less than 0.5 percent.
5 Includes money purchase plans.

100

T otal..........................................

1
1

Other formula5 ...................................
No alternative form ula................

Profes­
sional Techni­
and
cal and Produc­
All par­
adminis­ clerical tion par­
ticipants
trative
partici­ ticipants
pants
partici­
pants

2
2

30




Table 33. Private pension plans: Percent of full-time
participants1 by provision for integration or offset of social
security benefits, private industry, 1981
Profes­
sional
and
All par­
adminis­
ticipants
trative
partici­
pants

Provision

Techni­
cal and Produc­
clerical tion par­
partici­ ticipants
pants

T otal..........................................

100

100

100

100

With integrated or offset form ula.....

43

62

62

25

Terminal earnings form ula..........
Integrated with social security
payment2 .............................
Offset by social security
payment3 .............................
Based on service............
Not based on service......

38

56

56

21

7

12

9

3

31
24
8

44
34
10

46
36
10

18
13
5

5

6

6

4

3

4

4

2

2
1
1

2
1
1

2
1
1

1
1
O

57

38

38

75

Other formula ..............................
Integrated with social security
payment2 .............................
Offset by social security
payment3 .............................
Based on service.............
Not based on service......
Without integrated or offset formula.

1 Excludes participants in money purchase plans.
2 Formula provides lower benefits for earnings subject to FICA (social
security) taxes than for earnings in excess of tax base.
3 Benefit as calculated by formula is reduced by portion of primary so­
cial security payment.
4 Less than 0.5 percent.
NOTE: Because of rounding, sums of individual items may not equal to­
tals.

31

Table 34. Private pension plans: Percent of full-time participants by minimum age and associated service requirements for
normal retirement,1 private industry, 1981

Age and service requirements2

All par­
ticipants

Profes­
sional Technical
Produc­
and ad­ and cleri­
tion par­
ministra­ cal par­
ticipants
tive par­ ticipants
ticipants

Total .....................................

100

100

100

100

No age requirement .....................
Less than 30 years’ service ....
30 years’ service ....................
More than 30 years’ service ...

14
0
14
O

6
(4
)
5
(4
)

7

22
O
21
(4
)

Age 55 ..........................................
20 years’ service ....................
25 years’ service ....................
30 years’ service ....................

4
2
(4
)
2

7
6
(4
)
1

Age 56-59 .....................................
15 or 20 years' service..........
30 or more years' service ......

2
1
1

1

Age 606 .........................................
No service requirement .........
10 years’ service ....................
15 years’ service ....................
20 or 25 years’ service..........
30 years’ service ....................
More than 30 years’ service ...

10
2
2
1
0
3
0

(4
)

1

13
4
2
2
(4
)
3
1

7
(4
)
4
3
0

1
1

Age 623 .........................................
No service requirement .........
5 years’ service ......................
10 years’ service ....................
15 years’ service ....................
20 or 25 years’ service..........
30 years’ service ....................

3
(4
)
(4
)
3

1

2
1
1

13
3
3
2
1
3
1

6
1
2
1
(4)
2
(4
)

(4
)

Age and service requirements2

18
4
1
8
2
2
2

19
4
1
7
2
2
2

18
5
1
6
2
1
2

19
3
1
10
1
2
1

1
1

1
1

(4
)
(4
)

1

(4
)

0

3
3
(4
)

Age 65s .........................................
No service requirement .........
5 years’ service ......................
10 years’ service ....................
15 years’ service ....................

44
39
1
3
(4
)

44
42
1
1
(4
)

47
45
(4
)
2
(4
)

42
35
1
5
(4
)

Sum of age plus service..............
Equals less than 80 ...............
Equals 8 0 ................................
Equals 8 5 ................................
Equals 90 or more .................

7
2
(4
)
3
1

9
2
1
6
1

7
2

6
2
(4
)
3
1

No service requirement .........
30 years’ service ....................

1 Normal retirement is defined as the point at which the participant
could retire and immediately receive all accrued benefits by virtue of
service and earnings, without reduction due to age.
2 If a plan had more than one age and service requirement, the earli­
est age and associated service requirement was tabulated.
3 Includes 0.8 percent or less participants, who were in plans with
service requirements other than specified.
4 Less than 0.5 percent.




All par­
ticipants

Profes­
sional Technical
Produc­
and ad­ and cleri­
tion par­
ministra­ cal par­
ticipants
tive par­ ticipants
ticipants

0

3
2

5 Includes 0.1 percent or less participants, who were in plans with
service requirements other than specified.
6 Includes 2.1 percent or less participants, who were in plans with
service requirements other than specified.
NOTE: Because of rounding, sums of individual items may not equal
totals. Dash indicates no employees in this category.

32

Table 35. Private pension plans: Percent of full-time participants' by minimum age and associated service requirements for
early retirement,2 private industry, 1981

Age and service requirements3

All par­
ticipants

Profes­
sional Technical
Produc­
and ad­ and cleri­
tion par­
ministra­ cal par­
ticipants
tive par­ ticipants
ticipants

Age and service requirements3

All par­
ticipants

Profes­
sional Technical
Produc­
and ad­ and cleri­
tion par­
ministra­ cal par­
tive par­ ticipants ticipants
ticipants

Total .....................................
Participants in plans permitting
early retirement..........................

98

98

98

97

5

10

6

Age 56 to 59—Continued
10 years’ service ..............
20 or 30 years' service.....

3

1
1
9
1
(4
)
4
4
(4
)

1

1
(4
)

1
1

5
(4
)
(4
)
2
3
(4
)

5
1
(4
)
2
2
(4
)

12
1
(4
)
6
5
0

1

3
(4
)
(4
)
2
1
(4
)

0

No age requirement.................
Less than 30 years’
service ...........................
30 years’ service ..............
More than 30 years’
service ...........................

(4
)
5

(4
)
9

(4
)
5

(4)
2

(4
)

0

(4
)

-

Age 60 ......................................
No service requirement....
5 years' service ................
10 years’ service ..............
15 years’ service ..............
20 or more years’ service .

Less than age 55s ....................
No service requirement....
5 years’ service ................
10 years’ service ..............
15 or 20 years' service.....
25 years’ service..............

8
0
(4)
2
2
4

5
(4
)
(4
)
2
2
(4
)

12
(4
)
(4
)
5
2
4

8
(4
)
O
2
1
5

Age 62 ......................................
No service requirement ....
5 years’ service ................
10 years’ service ..............
15 years' service ..............
20 or 25 years’ service.....

2
(4
)
0
1
1
(4
)

Age 556 .....................................
No service requirement ....
5 years’ service ................
10 years’ service ..............
15 years’ service ..............
20 years’ service..............
25 years’ service..............

63
9
4
36
11
3
(4
)

69
10
7
38
10
3
(4
)

68
9
5
37
13
4
-

58
8
2
34
11
2
-

Sum of age plus service...........
Equals 70 or less .............
Equals 75 ..........................
Equals 76-80 .....................
Equals 85 ..........................

9
1
1
1
6

8
1
1
2
3

6
1
1
2
2

12
1
1
1
9

Participants in plans without early
retirement ..................................

2

2

2

3

Age 56 to 5 9 ............................
5 years’ service ................

1

1

1

1

(4
)

“

“

(4
)

(4
)
(4
)
(4
)

0
0
(4
)

0

1 Excludes participants in money purchase plans.
2 Early retirement is defined as the point at which a worker could re­
tire immediately and receive accrued benefits based on service and
earnings but reduced for each year prior to normal retirement age.
3 If a plan had more than one age and service requirement, the earli­
est age and associated service requirement was tabulated.
4 Less than 0.5 percent.




1
(4
)

5 Includes 0.3 percent or less with service requirements other than
specified.
6 Includes 1.2 percent or less with service requirements other than
specified.
NOTE: Because of rounding, sums of individual items may not equal
totals. Dash indicates no employees in this category.

33

Table 36. Private pension plans: Percent of full-time
participants1 by provisions for disability retirement, private
industry, 1981

Characteristic

Total with disability retirement
benefits..................................

Table 37. Private pension plans: Percent of full-time
participants1 by provision for credit for service after age 65,
private industry, 1981

Profes­
sional Techni­
and
cal and Produc­
All par­
adminis­ clerical tion par­
ticipants
trative
partici­ ticipants
partici­
pants
pants

Type of credit

T otal..........................................
88

88

84

T otal..........................................

100

100

100

No age or service.............................
Age only ............................................
Service o n ly ......................................
Age and service ................................
Meets qualification for long-term
disability benefits............................

15
1
57
9

15
1
46
7

20
1
42
10

18

31

27

9

B en efit provisions

100

100

Immediate disability retirement.........
Unreduced normal formula3 ........
Reduced normal formula4 ..........
Other than normal formula5 ........

67
51
9
7

49
37
6
6

50
36
9
5

82
64
10
8

Deferred disability retirement............
With benefits based on:
Service when disabled ...............
Service plus credit to normal
retirement d a te .........................
Service with some credit............

33

51

50

18

4

5

6

2

27
2

43
3

40
3

14
1

100

58

68

70

48

51

59

61

42

4

5

5

3

2
1

3
1

3
1

1
1

42
26

32
21

30
20

52
31

15

11

9

19

1

1
(5
)

1

1
(5
)

0

-

1 Excludes participants in money purchase plans.
2 The pension amount computed at age 65 is increased by a specified
percent (not part of the benefit formula) for each year the employee re­
mains active.
3 Additional service is included in the benefit formula.
4 Includes participants in plans in which all service is credited and pen­
sion is actuarially increased for later retirement date.
5 Less than 0.5 percent.
NOTE: Because of rounding, sums of individual items may not equal to­
tals. Dash indicates no employees in this category.

1 Excludes participants in money purchase plans.
2 Less than 0.5 percent.
3 The disabled worker’s pension is computed under the plan’s normal
benefit formula and is paid as if retirement had occurred on the plan’s nor­
mal retirement date, based on years of service actually completed.
4 The disabled worker’s pension is computed under the plan’s normal
benefit formula, based on years of service actually completed, and then
reduced for early receipt.
6 Includes flat amount benefits, dollar amount formulas, percent of un­
reduced normal benefits less social security, and percent of earnings for­
mulas both with and without social security offsets.
NOTE: Because of rounding, sums of individual items may not equal to­
tals.




100

Credit for service3..............................
All service credited .....................
Service credited to specified
maximum age ...........................
Service credited to specified
maximum years of service.......
Other4...........................................

12
(2
)
69
9

100

100

No credit for service.........................
Pension deferred with no change
in am ount.................................
Pension deferred, but increased
actuarially.................................
Pension deferred, but increased
by percent per additional year
of service2 ................................
Pension begins at age 6 5 ...........

100

100

100

91

M inim um requ ire m e nts fo r
disability retirem ent

T otal..........................................

Profes­
sional Techni­
and
cal and Produc­
All par­
adminis­ clerical tion par­
ticipants
trative
partici­ ticipants
partici­
pants
pants

34

Table 39. Private pension plans: Percent of full-time
participants by vesting provisions, private industry,
1981

Table 38. Private pension plans: Percent of full-time
participants1 by provision for cost-of-living adjustments,
private industry, 1981

Characteristic of adjustment

Total with cost-of-living adjustment
in normal retirement form ula.........

Profes­
sional
and
All par­
adminis­
ticipants
trative
partici­
pants

Techni­
cal and Produc­
clerical tion par­
partici­ ticipants
pants

Provision

4

4

2
100

100

100

100

67

64

63

72

21
2

24

24

1

1

18
2

4

5
9

6
11

3

9

T otal..........................................

100

100

100

100

Payable at normal retirement age
only .................................................

2

2

1

2

71

71

71

71

27

26

27

27

Total1 ........................................

100 percent of change (up to
annual maximum, if a n y)...............
Less than 100 percent of change or
other2 ..............................................

100

100

100

Cliff vesting,2 with full vesting after:
10 years of service at any age ...
10 years of service after
age 2 2 ......................................
O ther............................................

100

63

73

71

43

37

27

29

57

Graduated vesting,3 with full vesting
after:
15 years of service4 ....................
O ther............................................

M axim um pe rio dic increase

T otal..........................................

100

100

100

No maximum.....................................
Less than 3 percent .........................
3 percent...........................................
Over 3 percent..................................

4
19
40
37

2
22
43
33

10
19
44
27

1
16
30
53

T otal..........................................

100

100

100

100

No maximum......................................
With lifetime maximum .....................

97
3

98
2

99
1

93
7

M axim um lifetim e increase

Payable prior to normal retirement
age:
At specified a g e ..........................
At specified age, with additional
service requirement.................

1 Because plans may adopt alternative vesting schedules, sums of par­
ticipants covered by individual vesting schedules may exceed 100 percent.
2 Under a cliff vesting schedule, an employee is not entitled to any
benefits accrued under a pension plan until satisfying the requirement for
100 percent vesting. The Employee Retirement Income Security Act
(ERISA) specifies 10 years as the maximum requirement for this form of
vesting.
3 Graduated vesting schedules give an employee rights to a gradually
increasing share of accrued pension benefits, determined by years of serv­
ice and eventually reaching 100 percent vesting status.
4 Participants in this group were in plans that adopted ERISA’s stand­
ard for graduated vesting which calls for 25 percent vesting with 5 years
of service, with the vested percentage increasing 5 percentage points
each year for 5 succeeding years, then 10 percentage points for each of
the next 5 years. Thus, 15 years is the maximum requirement for this
form of vesting.

Freq uen cy o f ad justm ent

T otal..........................................

100

100

100

100

Annually.............................................
Other period......................................

96
4

97
3

98
2

7

R eq uirem ent fo r ea rlie st receipt
o f fu lly ve sted be nefit

100

94
6

1 Excludes participants in money purchase plans.
2 Includes adjustment provisions which did not go into effect until after
a specific percent rise in the CPI.
NOTE: Because of rounding, sums of individual items may not equal to­
tals.




Techni­
cal and Produc­
clerical tion par­
partici­ ticipants
pants

T y p e o f vesting schedule

3

A dju stm en t as pe rc e n t o f CPI
change

T ota l..........................................

Profes­
sional
and
All par­
adminis­
ticipants
trative
partici­
pants

35

Table 41. Private pension plans: Percent of full-time
participants1 by provision for preretirement survivor annuity,
private industry, 1981

Table 40. Private pension plans: Percent of full-time
participants1 by provision for postretirement survivor
annuity, private industry, 1981
Profes­
sional Techni­
and
cal and Produc­
All par­
adminis­ clerical tion par­
Type of annuity for surviving spouse
ticipants
trative
partici­ ticipants
pants
partici­
pants
100

100

100

94
18
4

93
21
3

60

71

69

50

Spouse’s share of joint-and-survivor
annuity plus portion of retiree’s
pension...........................................

3

2

1

4

Portion of retiree’s accrued pension
only .................................................

5

4

5

5

Spouse’s share of joint-and-survivor
annuity only2 ...................................
50 percent3 ..................................
Over 50 percent..........................
Alternative percentage at
retiree’s option .........................

100

100

100

99

100

99

99

Equivalent of joint and survivor
annuity3 .....................................

74

73

68

77

65

64

60

68

52
19

51
19

50
16

54
21

13
1

14
(6
)

10
0

14
1

Based on normal
retirement7...........................
At employee cost5 ............

9
2

8
1

9
1

9
2

Portion of accrued employee
benefit, reduced for early
retirement.................................

14

13

16

13

Other annuity®..............................

12

14

15

9

No preretirement survivor annuity
provided9 ........................................

1

1

1

Based on early retirement4 ....
Surviving spouse receives:
50 percent of
employee pension......
At employee cost5 ..
Over 50 percent of
employee pension....
At employee cost5 ..

1 Excludes participants in money purchase plans.
2 An annuity that provides income during the lifetime of both the retiree
and the surviving spouse. The accrued pension will usually be actuarially
reduced at retirement because of the longer length of time that payments
are expected to be made. Upon the death of the retiree who selects this
option, all or part of the reduced pension is continued to the surviving
spouse for life.
3 Includes a small percentage of employees in plans where the
spouse’s share of the joint-and-survivor annuity was less than 50 percent.
NOTE: Because of rounding, sums of individual items may not equal to­
tals.




100

Preretirement survivor annuity
provided..........................................

90
31
10

T ota l..........................................

Techni­
cal and Produc­
clerical tion par­
partici­ ticipants
pants

T otal..........................................

100

92
25
7

Type of annuity for surviving
spouse2

Profes­
sional
and
All par­
adminis­
ticipants
trative
partici­
pants

(6
)

1 Excludes participants in money purchase plans.
2 Many plans offer an elective preretirement spouse option. If the elec­
tive provision was the only option, it was tabulated; if it was in combination
with an automatic preretirement spouse option, only the automatic provi­
sion was tabulated.
3 An annuity that provides income during the lifetime of both the retiree
and the surviving spouse. The accrued pension will usually be actuarially
reduced at retirement because of the longer length of time that payments
are expected to be made. Upon the retiree’s death, all or part of the re­
duced pension is continued to the surviving spouse for life.
4 Survivor annuity is based upon the benefit the employee would have
received if early retirement had occurred on the date of death.
5 Plan reduces the accrued employee pension benefit for each year
survivor protection is in force.
6 Less than 0.5 percent.
7 Survivor annuity is based on the benefit the employee would have re­
ceived if eligible for normal retirement on the date of death.
6 Included annuity based on a portion of accrued benefits unreduced
for early retirement, or a flat dollar amount.
9 A preretirement survivor annuity is not required in plans which do not
provide for the payment of retiree benefits prior to the plan’s normal retire­
ment age.
NOTE: Because of rounding, sums of individual items may not equal to­
tals.

36

Table 44. Health Insurance: Percent of full-time participants
by length of service requirement fo r participation,1 private
industry, 1981

Table 42. Accident and sickness insurance: Percent of
full-time participants by length of service requirement for
participation,1 private industry, 1981

Length of service requirement

Profes­
sional Techni­
and
cal and Produc­
All par­
adminis­ clerical tion par­
ticipants
trative
partici­ ticipants
pants
partici­
pants

Profes­
sional
and
All par­
adminis­
ticipants
trative
partici­
pants

Length of service requirement

Techni­
cal and Produc­
clerical tion par­
partici­ ticipants
pants

T otal....................................

100

100

100

100

T ota l..........................................

100

100

100

100

With service requirement.................
1 m onth.......................................
2 m onths.....................................
3 m onths.....................................
4-5 months..................................
6 m onths.....................................
7-11 months................................
1 year...........................................
Over 1 year.................................

74
26
11
23
5
6
(2
)
2
1

71
30
6
20
6
6

74
25
13
23
4
7
(2
)
2
(2
)

With service requirement.................
1 m onth.......................................
2 m onths.....................................
3 m onths.....................................
4-5 months..................................
6 m onths.....................................
7-12 months.................................

59
18
13
19
1
6
(2
)

42
17
7
13
(2
)
6
(2
)

53
17
8
19
1
7
1

1
1

74
29
9
22
5
6
1
2

69
20
19
22
2
6
(2
)

Without service requirement............

41

58

47

31

Without service requirement............

26

29

26

26

Service requirement not
determinable..................................

(2
)

“

“

(2
)

(2
)

“

Service requirement not
determinable..................................

-

“

(2
)

1 Length of time employees must be on the job before they are cov­
ered by a plan that is at least partially employer financed. There is fre­
quently an administrative time lag between completion of the requirement
and the actual start of participation. If the lag was 1 month or more, it
was included in the service requirement. Minimum age requirements are
rare.
2 Less than 0.5 percent.

1 Length of time employees must be on the job before they are cov­
ered by a plan that is at least partially employer financed. There is fre­
quently an administrative time lag between completion of the requirement
and the actual start of participation. If the lag was 1 month or more, it
was included in the service requirement. Minimum age requirements are
rare.
2 Less than 0.5 percent.

NOTE: Because of rounding, sums of individual items may not equal to­
tals. Dash indicates no employees in this category.

NOTE: Because of rounding, sums of individual items may not equal to­
tals. Dash indicates no employees in this category.

Table 45. Life insurance: Percent of full-time participants
by length of service requirement fo r participation in basic
plans,1 private industry, 1981

Table 43. Long-term disability insuranee: Percent of
full-time participants by length of service requirement for
participation,1 private industry, 1981

Length of service requirement

Profes­
sional
and
All par­
adminis­
ticipants
trative
partici­
pants

Techni­
cal and Produc­
clerical tion par­
partici­ ticipants
pants

Length of service requirement

Profes­
sional Techni­
and
cal and Produc­
All par­
adminis­ clerical tion par­
ticipants
trative
partici­ ticipants
partici­
pants
pants

T otal..........................................

100

100

100

100

Total .....................................

100

100

100

100

With service requirement2 ................
1 m onth.......................................
2 m onths.....................................
3 m onths.....................................
4-5 months..................................
6 m onths.....................................
1 year...........................................
2 years.........................................
3 years.........................................
Over 3 years................................

65
10
2
13
(3
)
16
12
2
3
6

65
13
1
12
(3
)
14
13
2
3
6

70
8
2
15
(3
)
15
15
2
5
7

61
9
3
13
(3
)
18
9
2
1
5

With service requirement.............
1 month ..................................
2 months.................................
3 months.................................
4-5 months ..............................
6 months.................................
7-11 m onths............................
1 y e a r......................................
Over 1 year .............................

61
20
9
20
2
9
(2
)
1
1

47
20
4
13
1
8
(2
)
1
1

62
19
6
21
3
10
(2
)
1
1

67
20
12
22
1
9
(2
)
2
(2
)

Without service requirement .......

39

53

38

33

Without service requirement.............

35

35

30

39
Service requirement not
determinable..............................

(2
)

(2
)

(2
)

(2
)

1 Length of time employees must be on the job before they are cov­
ered by a plan that is at least partially employer financed. There is fre­
quently an administrative time lag between completion of the requirement
and the actual start of participation. If the lag was 1 month or more, it
was included in the service requirement.
2 Includes less than 0.8 percent of the participants, who were in plans
with a minimum age requirement only.
3 Less than 0.5 percent.

1 Length of time employees must be on the job before they are cov­
ered by a plan that is at least partially employer financed. There is fre­
quently an administrative time lag between completion of the require­
ment and the actual start of participation. If the lag was 1 month or
more, it was included in the service requirement. Minimum age require­
ments are rare.
2 Less than 0.5 percent.

NOTE: Because of rounding, sums of individual items may not equal to­
tals.




NOTE: Because of rounding, sums of individual items may not equal
totals.

37




Table 46. Private pension plans: Percent of full-time
participants by age and service requirements for participa­
tion,1 private industry, 1981

Age and service requirement
provisions2

Profes­
sional Techni­
and
cal and Produc­
All par­
adminis­ clerical tion par­
ticipants
trative
partici­ ticipants
pants
partici­
pants

Minimum requirement
T otal..........................................

100

100

100

100

With minimum age and/or service
requirement3 ...................................
Age and service..........................
Age o n ly ......................................
Service o n ly .................................

59
35
4
20

60
39
5
16

70
49
5
17

52
26
3
24

Without minimum age and/or
service requirement .......................

41

40

30

48

T otal..........................................

100

100

100

100

With maximum requirement4 ............

58

66

69

49

Without maximum requirement.........

42

34

31

51

Maximum requirement

1 Excludes maximum 6-month administrative time lags allowed by
ERISA. Most plans with time lags adopt the beginning of designated 6month periods as participation dates.
2 If a plan had alternate participation requirements, one of which was
service only, the service only requirement was tabulated.
3 ERISA legislation states that nearly all pension plans must allow par­
ticipation to full-time employees who have reached age 25 and who have
completed one year of service. Age and service requirements for many of
these employees are more liberal than the ERISA standard.
4 ERISA legislation permits plan administrators to impose a maximum
age for participation. Maximum age must be within 5 years of the plan’s
normal retirement date.
NOTE: Because of rounding, sums of individual items may not equal to­
tals.

38

Table 47. Other benefits: Percent of full-time employees in establishments providing specified benefits by percent of
eligible employees, private industry, 1981
Benefit

None eligible

Total

Some workers
eligible

All workers
eligible

Not available

Professional and administrative employees
Paid leave:
Funeral leave .................................................................
Military leave .................................................................

100
100

6
14

1
1

87
79

6
6

Profit sharing, savings, and stock plans:
Profit sharing.................................................................
Savings and th rift...........................................................
Stock bonus plans.........................................................
Stock purchase plans ...................................................
Other stock plans1 .........................................................

100
100
100
100
100

70
54
81
74
70

5
8
2
3
3

20
32
11
16
21

6
6
6
7
6

Income continuation plans:
Severence p a y ...............................................................

100

36

4

53

7

Miscellaneous benefits:
Employee discounts......................................................
G ifts ................................................................................
In-house infirmary..........................................................
Relocation allowance....................................................
Full defrayment of expenses ..................................
Partial defrayment of expenses..............................
Recreational facilities....................................................
Full defrayment of c o st............................................
Partial defrayment of c o s t.......................................
Subsidized m eals...........................................................
Full defrayment of c o st............................................
Partial defrayment of c o s t.......................................
Educational assistance .................................................
Full defrayment of expenses ..................................
Partial defrayment of expenses..............................
Parking ...........................................................................
Provided at no c o s t.................................................
Provided below commercial ra te s...........................
Automobile.....................................................................
Without reimbursing the company...........................
Partially reimbursing the company..........................

100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100

47
81
42
9
29
73
71
82
83
64
92
66
12
63
44
17
22
90
66
74
86

1
3
4
9
5
4
1
1
(2
)
4
1
3
4
2
2
10
8
2
25
19
6

46
11
48
75
59
16
21
10
10
25
1
24
78
30
48
67
64
2
2
1
1

6
6
6
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
6
7
6
6
6
6
6
6
7
7
7

Paid leave:
Funeral leave ................................................................
Military leave .................................................................

100
100

6
17

1
1

88
76

5
5

Profit sharing, savings, and stock plans:
Profit sharing..................................................................
Savings and th rift...........................................................
Stock bonus plans.........................................................
Stock purchase plans ...................................................
Other stock plans1 .........................................................

100
100
100
100
100

69
60
86
77
76

5
8
2
3
4

21
26
7
15
15

5
5
5
5
5

Income continuation plans:
Severence pay ...............................................................

100

38

5

51

6

Miscellaneous benefits:
Employee discounts ......................................................
G ifts ................................................................................
In-house infirmary..........................................................
Relocation allowance....................................................
Full defrayment of expenses ..................................
Partial defrayment of expenses..............................
Recreational facilities....................................................
Full defrayment of c o st............................................
Partial defrayment of c o s t.......................................
Subsidized m eals...........................................................
Full defrayment of c o st............................................
Partial defrayment of c o s t.......................................
Educational assistance.................................................
Full defrayment of expenses ..................................
Partial defrayment of expenses..............................
Parking...........................................................................
Provided at no c o s t.................................................
Provided below commercial ra te s...........................

100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100

38
80
50
48
59
83
77
86
85
64
92
67
23
67
50
20
26
89

2
3
7
5
4
1
1
(2
)
1
5
1
4
3
1
3
14
11
3

55
12
38
40
30
10
16
8
8
23
2
21
69
27
42
61
58
3

5
5
5
7
7
7
6
6
6
8
5
8
5
5
5
5
5
5

Technical and clerical employees

See footnotes at end of table.




39

Table 47. Other benefits: Percent of full-time employees in establishments providing specified benefits by percent of
eligible employees, private industry, 1981—Continued
Benefit

None eligible

Total

Some workers
eligible

All workers
eligible

Not available

Technical and clerical employees
Miscellaneous benefits—Continued
Automobile.....................................................................
Without reimbursing the company..........................
Partially reimbursing the company .........................

1

6
6
6

3
2

83
64

7

77
75
87
83
74

4
5
1
1
3

13
14
5
9
16

6
6
6

100

60

5

28

8

100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100

46
83
44
61
75
80
77
85
84
79
91
82
32
72
53
11
13
92
92
91
93

1
2
3
5
4
1
(2
)
(2
)
O
3
1
1
5
3
2
6
5
1
1
1
(2
)

46
9
47
26
13
12
15

100
100
100

91
92
93

2
1
1

Paid leave:
Funeral leave ................................................................
Military leave .................................................................

100
100

7
27

Profit sharing, savings, and stock plans:
Profit sharing .................................................................
Savings and th rift...........................................................
Stock bonus plans.........................................................
Stock purchase plans ...................................................
Other stock plans1 .........................................................

100
100
100
100
100

Income continuation plans:
Severence p a y ...............................................................
Miscellaneous benefits:
Employee discounts ......................................................
G ifts ................................................................................
In-house infirmary..........................................................
Relocation allowance....................................................
Full defrayment of expenses ..................................
Partial defrayment of expenses..............................
Recreational facilities....................................................
Full defrayment of co st............................................
Partial defrayment of c o s t.......................................
Subsidized meals...........................................................
Full defrayment of co st............................................
Partial defrayment of c o s t.......................................
Educational assistance .................................................
Full defrayment of expenses ..................................
Partial defrayment of expenses..............................
Parking ...........................................................................
Provided at no c o s t.................................................
Provided below commercial ra te s..........................
Automobile.....................................................................
Without reimbursing the company..........................
Partially reimbursing the company .........................

1
(2
)

Production employees

1 Other stock plans include Employee Stock Ownership Plans and
Tax Reduction Act Stock Ownership Plans.
2 Less than 0.5 percent.




7

8
11
1
10
56
18
39
76
76
1
1
1
(2
)

7

7

6

7

7
7

8
7
7

8
8
8
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7

6
6
6
6

NOTE: Because of rounding, sums of individual items may not equal
totals.

40

App@ndfe A: Technical M©t®

port, protective services, and other such occupa­
tions that do not require full knowledge of a pro­
fessional or administrative field of work or the ap­
plication of a high level of creativity, originality,
analytical ability, or independent judgment. Job
performance skills are typically acquired through
on-the-job experience and/or specific training
which is less than that usually represented by a
baccalaureate degree. These skills include the ap­
plication of a practical knowledge of established
procedures, practices, precedents, and guidelines.

S<e®p© of survey

This survey of the incidence and characteristics of
employee benefit plans covered private sector estab­
lishments1 in the United States, excluding Alaska and
Hawaii, employing at least 50, 100, or 250 workers, de­
pending on the industry. Industrial coverage included:
Mining; construction; manufacturing; transportation,
communications, electric, gas, and sanitary services;
wholesale trade; retail trade; finance, insurance, and real
estate; and selected services (table A-l).
Establishments which met the minimum size criteria
as of the reference date of the sampling frame were in­
cluded in the survey, even if they employed fewer
workers at the time of data collection. Establishments
found to be outside the industrial scope of the survey
at the time of data collection were excluded.
Table A-l shows the estimated number of establish­
ments and employees within the scope of the survey
and the number within the sample actually studied for
each major industry division.

Production:
Includes skilled, semiskilled, and unskilled trades;
craft and production occupations; manual labor oc­
cupations; custodial occupations; and operatives.
Excluded from the survey were executive manage­
ment employees (defined as those whose decisions have
direct and substantial effects on an organization’s
policymaking), and part-time, temporary, seasonal, and
traveling operating employees such as airline flight
crews and long-distance truckdrivers.

OeeupatS®nal groups

Data were collected individually for the following
three broad occupational groups:

Benefit areas

Professional-administrative:
Includes occupations that require a foundation
of knowledge in the theories, concepts, principles,
and practices of a broad field of science, learning,
administration, or management acquired through a
college-level education or the equivalent in pro­
gressively responsible experience. Above entry
levels, the exercise of a high degree of creativity,
originality, analytical ability, and independent judg­
ment to solve varied and complex problems in the
field of work is characteristic.

Sampled establishments were requested to provide
data on work schedules and details of plans in each of
the following benefit areas: Paid lunch periods, paid
rest periods, paid holidays, paid vacations, personal
leave, sick leave, accident and sickness insurance, long­
term disability insurance, health insurance, private re­
tirement pensions, and life insurance.
BLS also collected data on the incidence of the fol­
lowing additional benefits: Funeral leave; military leave;
profit sharing plans; savings and thrift plans; stock bonus
plans; stock purchase plans; other stock plans; sever­
ance pay; employee discounts; gifts; relocation allow­
ances; recreation facilities; subsidized meals; educational
assistance; automobile parking; personal use of com­
pany-owned car; and in-house infirmary.

T echnical-clerical:
Includes office and sales clerical, technical sup­

1 For this survey, an establishment was an economic unit(s) which
produced goods or services, a central administrative office, or an
auxiliary unit providing support services to a company. In manufac­
turing industries, the establishment was usually a single physical lo­
cation. In nonmanufacturing industries, all locations o f an individual
company within a Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area (SMSA)
or within a nonmetropolitan county were usually considered an
establishment.




41

Sampling tram©

The scope of this survey was the same as that of the
Bureau’s 1981 National Survey of Professional, Admin­
istrative, Technical, and Clerical Pay (PATC). The list
of establishments from which the sample was selected
(called the sampling frame) was, therefore, the same as
that developed for the 1981 PATC. This sampling frame

was developed by refining data from the most recently
available State Unemployment Insurance (UI) reports
for the 48 States covered by the survey and the Dis­
trict of Columbia. The reference date of the available
UI reports was generally March 1979. The refinement
procedures included an effort to ensure that most sam­
pling frame units corresponded to the definition of an
establishment as defined for this survey. (A small num­
ber of sampling frame units were not refined to corre­
spond to the definition of an establishment because of
limited company reporting ability.)

lection costs by decreasing the number of new estab­
lishments in the sample.
Data c©0S@
(Dti©n

Data for the survey were collected by personal visits
of Bureau field representatives to the sampled estab­
lishments. To reduce the reporting burden, respondents
were asked to provide documents describing their pri­
vate pension plans and plans covering the four insured
benefit areas within the scope of the survey. These were
analyzed by BUS staff in Washington to obtain the re­
quired data on plan provisions. Data on paid leave and
other paid time off generally were obtained directly
from the employers at the time of the visit.
Data were collected during the months of January
through July. Respondents were asked for information
as of the time of the data collection visit.

Sample design

The sample for this survey was a subsample of the
1981 PATC sample to reduce the costs and resources
required for data collection. The sample of 15052estab­
lishments was selected by first stratifying the sampling
frame by broad industry group and establishment size
group based on the total employment in the establish­
ment. The industry groups consisted of the eight major
industry divisions, as defined by the Office of Manage­
ment and Budget, which are covered by the survey and
shown in table A-l.
The establishment size groups are defined as follows:
Employment size
group
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

Establishment
employment

...............................................
..............................................
..............................................
..................................
............................................
............................................
............................................

10 .................................................

Data tabulation

50-99
100-249
250-499
500-999
1,000-2,499
2,500-4,999
5,000-9,999

10,000 and over

The sample size was allocated to each stratum (de­
fined by industry and size) approximately proportional
to the total employment of all sampling frame estab­
lishments in the stratum. Thus, a stratum which con­
tained 1 percent of the total employment within the
scope of the survey received approximately 1 percent
of the total sample. The result of this allocation proce­
dure is that each stratum will have a sampling fraction
(the ratio of the number of units in the sample to the
number in the sampling frame) which is proportionate
to the average measure of size of the units in the stratum.
Within each stratum, a random sample was selected
using a probability technique to maximize the probabil­
ity of retaining establishments which were selected in
the 1980 survey.3This method of selection reduced col­
2The number o f sample units selected in this survey is, at present,
largely determined by resources and operational constraints and may
be adjusted up or down in future surveys.
3This method modifies the method introduced by Nathan Keyfitz
in 1951 in his paper titled “Sampling with Probabilities Proportional
to Size: Adjusting for Changes in the Probabilities,” Journal o f the
American Statistical Association, 1951, No. 46, pp. 105-9.




42

The tables presented in this bulletin show the percent
of employees that were covered by paid leave plans,
participated in insurance or pension plans, or were eli­
gible for other benefits. Except in table 47, counts of
workers covered by benefit plans included those who
had not met possible minimum length-of-service require­
ments at the time of the survey. Workers were counted
as participants in employee benefit plans that require
the employee to pay part of the cost only if they elected
the plan and paid their share. Plans for which the em­
ployee paid the full premium were outside the scope of
the survey, even if the employer paid administrative
costs.
Tables in this bulletin show the percent of workers
covered by individual benefit plans or plan provisions.
Percentages are calculated in three ways. One tech­
nique, followed in tables 1-5, 7, and 10-13, shows the
number of covered workers as a percent of all workers
within the scope of the survey. It is designed to show
the incidence of the individual employee benefits.
A second approach is followed in tables 6, 8-9, 14,
16-17, 27-28, 31-35, 37, and 39-46, which show the
number of workers covered by specific features in a
benefit area as a percent of all employees who partici­
pate in that general benefit area. These tables answer
questions concerning typical coverages provided to per­
sons with a given insurance benefit or a private pension
plan; for example, what percent of all employees with
health insurance receive dental coverage?
The third approach provides a closeup look at an
important feature (tables 15, 18-26, and 29-30); for ex­
ample, what percent of all employees with dental cov­
erage in their health insurance are covered for ortho­
dontic work? A group of tables combine the second
and third types above, indicating in the first row of data
the percent of persons in a given benefit area who have
a particular coverage, while the remainder of the table
is based on all employees with that coverage (tables 36
and 38).

Table A-1. Estimated number of establishments and workers within scope of employee benefit survey and number studied,
private industry, United States,1 1981

Industry division2

Minimum
employment in
Number of
establishments
establishments
within scope of
survey

Number of workers in establishments
Professional
and
administrative

Total3

Technical and
clerical

Production

Within scope of survey4
All industries...........................................................

-

43,325

23,746,586

4,881,872

5,351,616

11,297,199

Manufacturing...................................................................

5100-250

20,914

12,591,080

2,497,031

1,699,038

8,158,518

Nonmanufacturing.............................................................
Mining.............................................................................
Construction ..................................................................
Transportation, communication, electric, gas, and
sanitary services......................................................
Wholesale trade.............................................................
Retail trad e ....................................................................
Finance, insurance and real estate..............................
Selected services7 .........................................................

_
250
250

22,411
582
690

11,155,506
437,960
441,290

2,384,841
65,168
83,872

3,652,578
45,859
60,756

3,138,681
325,455
253,889

6100-250
100
250
100
B
50-100

4,062
4,864
3,838
5,872
2,503

3,025,980
1,004,731
3,154,497
2,365,964
725,084

627,473
263,261
326,882
680,962
337,223

706,459
272,460
866,909
1,450,547
249,589

1,251,690
398,561
816,738
46,340
46,009

Studied9
All industries ...........................................................
Manufacturing...................................................................
Nonmanufacturing.............................................................
Mining.............................................................................
Construction ...................................................................
Transportation, communication, electric, gas, and
sanitary services......................................................
Wholesale trade.............................................................
Retail trad e ....................................................................
Finance, insurance and real estate..............................
Selected services7 .........................................................

1,295

4,433,951

1,043,857

982,781

2,120,966

642

2,653,597

627,906

371,297

1,631,361

250
250

653
23
26

1,780,354
39,873
29,073

415,951
10,889
9,121

611,484
7,574
8,075

489,605
20,948
9,288

6 100-250
100
250
100
8 50-100

172
63
175
147
47

885,472
24,406
390,566
330,228
80,736

196,290
7,240
43,608
107,211
41,592

251,857
7,602
115,237
192,328
28,811

356,971
8,298
80,575
5,870
7,655

5 100-250
-

1 Excludes Alaska and Hawaii.
2 As defined in the 1972 edition of the Standard Industrial Classifica­
tion Manual, U.S. Office of Management and Budget.
3 This figure includes out-of-scope workers. These workers—executive
management, part time, temporary, seasonal, and operational personnel
in constant travel status (e.g. airline pilots)—are excluded from the counts
of employment by occupational group.
4 Numbers of establishments and workers shown within the scope of
the survey are estimates. These estimates differ from those developed in
the 1981 PATC survey, since each is based on the findings of its respec­
tive survey.
5 Minimum employment size was 100 for chemical and allied products;
petroleum refining and related industries; machinery except electrical;
electrical machinery, equipment, and supplies; transportation equipment;
and instruments and related products. Minimum size was 250 in all other
manufacturing industries.

6 Minimum employment size was 100 for railroad transportation, local
and suburban transit, deep sea foreign and domestic transportation; air
transportation; communications, electric, gas, and sanitary services; and
pipelines; and 250 for all other transportation industries. U.S. Postal Serv­
ice is excluded from the survey.
7 Limited to advertising; credit reporting and collection agencies; com­
puter and data processing services; research and development laborato­
ries; commercial testing laboratories; management and public relations
services, engineering and architectural services; noncommercial research
organizations; and accounting, auditing, and bookkeeping services.
8 Minimum employment size was 50 for accounting, auditing, and
bookkeeping services; and 100 in all other selected services.
9 These figures refer to all respondents to the survey, whether or not
they provided data for all items studied. See the section on survey re­
sponse.

This multilevel approach has the advantage of clearly
pointing out typical benefit plan characteristics after the
prevalence of the benefit has been established. Any of
the second or third type of tables, if desired, can be
converted to the first type by multiplying each data cell
by the appropriate factors. For example, to calculate
the percent of all employees with orthodontic cover­
age, multiply the percent of those with dental plans that
cover orthodontia by the percent of health insurance
participants with dental coverage, and multiply that
product by the percent of all employees who have
health insurance coverage.

ance for production employees) was treated as an indi­
vidual survey and separate estimates were developed for
each. This treatment facilitated the use of partially com­
pleted establishment reports in the survey. Therefore,
the actual number of responses for the survey varies for
each of the 36 combinations.
The following summary is a composite picture of the
establishment response to the survey;
Number o f establishments:
In sam p le......................................................
Out of business and out of scope................
Refusing to re sp o n d ....................................
Responding fully or partially......................

Survey response

There were two procedures used to adjust for miss­
ing data from partial schedules and total refusals. First,

Each of the 36 combinations of occupational group
and work schedule or benefit area (e.g., health insur­



1505
53
157
1295

43

imputations for the number of plan participants were
made for cases where the number of participants was
not reported (less than 1 percent of all plans). Each of
these participant values was imputed by randomly se­
lecting a similar plan from another establishment in a
similar industry and region. The participation rate from
this plan was then used to approximate the number of
participants for the plan which was missing a participa­
tion value but was otherwise usable.
For other forms of missing data (or nonresponse) an
adjustment was made using a weight adjustment tech­
nique based on sample unit employment. Under such a
techique, a model is assumed in which the mean value
of the nonrespondents is equal to the mean value of the
respondents at some detailed “cell” level. These cells
are defined in a manner that groups establishments to­
gether which are homogeneous with respect to the
characteristics of interest. In most cases, these cells are
the same as those used for sample selection. The spe­
cific weight adjustments used in this survey were cal­
culated in four stages for each occupational group and
benefit area combination. This allowed a maximum
amount of data from partially completed establishment
reports to be incorporated into survey estimates. For
example, data on the number of occupational group
employees in an establishment or participants in a plan,
or information on the existence of a plan could be used
even if the plan provisions could not be obtained.

ni
Y = £
i- 1

Where ni = number of responding units
fi - weight adjustment factor for the i unit
The estimation procedure was then the process of
estimating the appropriate employment or establishment
totals needed for each estimate and subsequently calcu­
lating the proportion, mean, or percentage which was
desired.
Reliability ©f estimates

The statistics in this report are estimates derived from
a sample survey. There are two types of errors possi­
ble in estimates based on a sample survey—sampling
and nonsampling. The “accuracy” of a survey result is
determined by the joint effects of sampling and non­
sampling errors.
Sampling errors occur because observations are made
from only a sample, not the entire population. Since
this survey was based on a probability sample, estimates
of sampling error for the survey estimates can be pro­
duced directly from the survey data after appropriate
procedures have been implemented. Calculations of
sampling errors for the estimates will be part of future
publications.
Nonsampling errors can be attributed to many
sources: Inability to obtain information about all cases
in the sample; definitional difficulties; differences in the
interpretation of questions; inability or unwillingness to
provide correct information on the part of respondents;
mistakes in recording or coding the data obtained; and
other errors of collection, response, processing, cover­
age, and estimation for missing data. Through the use
of computer edits of the data and professional review
of both individual and summarized data, efforts were
made to reduce the nonsampling errors in recording,
coding, and processing the data. The nonresponse ad­
justment procedures are also a potential source of sur­
vey nonsampling error. To the extent that the charac­
teristics of the nonrespondents are not the same as those
of the respondents, nonsampling error is introduced in
the estimates. The magnitude of these and other non­
sampling errors is currently undetermined.
A more detailed description of survey methodology
and reliability may be obtained from the Office of Wages
and Industrial Relations, Bureau of Labor Statistics,
U.S. Department of Labor.

Sur¥©y estimation methods

The survey design used an unbiased estimator (the
Horvitz-Thompson) which assigns the inverse of each
sample unit’s probability of selection as a weight to the
unit’s data. The estimator was modified to account for
a weight adjustment factor developed during the ad­
justment for nonresponse. The general form of the es­
timator for a population total was:
n
Y = 1

i=1

Yi
---

Pi

Where n = sample size
Yj = value for the characteristic of the i unit
Pi = the probability of including the i 1unit in
the sample
This basic form of the estimator, after modification to
account for the weight adjustment factor, fi, developed
during the adjustment for nonresponse, was




fi Yi
---Pi

44

Appendix D: Availability ©f
te® Syirw®^8 Date D ©
©
@@

The tables published in this bulletin present the ma­
jor findings of the employee benefits survey; results of
additional review of various benefit plan provisions ap­
pear in the Monthly Labor Review. However, these cover
only a portion of the employee benefits information
collected. Persons interested in all provisions of a par­
ticular benefit studied during the annual survey can
purchase a set of magnetic tapes containing the survey’s
data base through BLS’ Office of Wages and Industrial
Relations, Washington, D. C. 20212. The charge for
furnishing the data is limited to the cost of producing
the tapes and preparing supporting documentation.
For major benefit items, the BLS survey obtained
plan provisions and employee participation data for each
of three employee groups (professional-administrative,
technical-clerical, and production workers). Informa­
tion on employer costs was not collected. The magnetic
tapes, which consist of a control file and plan data files
for each benefit area, may be used to derive national
estimates, similar to those published in the bulletin, for
any item on the data base. The tapes cannot yield reli­
able estimates for individual industries or geographic
regions. Full documentation accompanies the tapes, in­
cluding examples of estimating formulas. Although Bu­
reau staff will respond to any questions concerning the
content of the tapes, technical assistance in developing
estimates cannot be provided to purchasers due to the
heavy workload associated with the survey program.
Data users can purchase tapes with details of plans
for one benefit area or all, i.e., health, life, accident and
sickness, or long-term disability insurance; private re­
tirement pensions; and paid leave plans—lunch time,
rest periods, holidays, personal leave, vacations, and
sick leave. (Table 47 presents all of the information that
was collected on the other benefits surveyed.) The plan
data file contains provisions for each plan which was
reported and for which usable information was avail­
able. However, plan identification numbers on the tape
are scrambled (and other identifying information is re­
moved) to protect the confidentiality of responding
establishments.
Data users also can purchase the control file, which
contains establishment information required to produce
estimates from the plan data. Control file records in­
clude establishment sample weights and size codes; geo­
graphic, industrial, and employee group classification



codes; and the number of workers in the employee
group. The control file also lists all benefit plans offered
in each establishment, with the number of plan partici­
pants in each employee group. A plan is listed on more
than one control file record if it covers employees in
more than one establishment. Although plan identifica­
tion numbers on the control file are scrambled, the same
scrambled numbers appear on the data file so they can
be matched to make estimates. Because establishment
schedule numbers on the control file are scrambled dif­
ferently for each employee group, it will not be possi­
ble to link together plans offered to different employee
groups within an establishment.
Benefit provisions obtained from plan documents are
recorded in coding manuals for insurance and pension
plans and then entered on the plan data file. A set of
coding manuals and instructions for completing them
are supplied to tape purchasers for interpretation of data
on the file.
The analysis of insurance and pension plans is ex­
tremely detailed. The following list of pension plan pro­
visions included on the data base gives an indication of
the breadth and depth of the information available on
the magnetic tapes. Insurance analysis is similarly
detailed.

Pension data base

Plan Participation Requirements
When plan participation begins
Maximum age for participation
Employee Contribution for Employee Benefits
Percent paid or monthly contribution
Normal Retirement Requirements
Minimum requirements - normal retirement
Minimum requirements - normal retirement with
supplemental payments
Computation of Benefits
Mode of computation
Eligibility for alternate formulas
45

Normal Retirement Benefit Formulas for Future
Service
Type of formula(s)
Scheduled dollar amount varying by service
Dollar amount for each year of service
Percent of earnings
Determination of social security taxable earnings
base
Determination of earnings
Definition of earnings
Percent of contributions
Credited service maximum
Social security, railroad retirement offset
Application of offset
Social security offset reduction factor at early
retirement
Past Service Benefit Formulas
Applicability of future service formula
Type of past service formula(s)
Dollar amount for each year of service
Percent of earnings
Determination of social security taxable earnings
base
Determination of past service earnings
Minimum and Maximum Normal Retirement
Formula
Minimum benefit
Maximum benefit
Definition of earnings

Early Retirement at Employer’s Option
Presence of provision
(Repeat above items for early retirement at
employee’s option)
Disability Retirement
Presence of provision
Minimum requirements
Credited service
Earliest receipt of pension
Applicable formulas
Accrual of benefits
Reduction factor for early receipt
Eligibility for alternative or minimum benefit
Alternative or minimum benefit
Amount of supplemental payment
Duration of supplemental payment
Effect of reaching age 65
Credited service at age 65
Survivor Annuities after Retirement
Monthly survivor annuities to spouse
Cost of protection to retiree
Effect of age difference
Adjustment due to age difference
Predeceasing spouse
Presence of alternate or minimum annuity

Payments Supplemental to Normal Retirement
Benefit
Amount of supplemental payment
Duration of supplemental payment

Lump-Sum or Installment Death Benefits after
Retirement
Presence of provision
Minimum requirements
Amount of death benefit

Special Medicare Part B Benefit
Amount of benefit
Postponed Retirement
Crediting of service
Effect upon accrued benefit

Survivor Annuities before Retirement
Minimum requirements
Determination of spouse’s annuity
Cost of protection to employee
Adjustment due to age difference
Presence of alternative or minimum annuity
Minimum requirements for alternative
Determination of alternative annuity
Cost of alternative protection to employee
Adjustment of alternative due to age difference

Cost-of-Living Adjustment
Presence of adjustment
Frequency of adjustment
Amount of COLA increase
Maximum COLA increase
Overall maximum of all increases
COLA decreases
Early Retirement at Employee’s Option
Minimum requirements - early retirement
Minimum requirements - early retirement with
supplemental payments
Applicable formulas
Accrual of benefits



Reduction factor for early receipt
Eligibility for alternative or minimum benefit
Alternative or minimum benefit
Amount of supplemental payment
Duration of supplemental payment

Lump-Sum or Installment Death Benefits before
Retirement
Presence of provision
Minimum requirements
Amount of death benefit
46

Vesting
Vesting schedule
Accrual of benefits
Requirement for vested benefit prior to normal
retirement
Reduction factor for early receipt




Employer Contribution1
Rate of contributions
Relationship with LTD Coverage
LTD coverage
1 Applies only to money purchase and target benefit plans, and defined
benefit plans with formulas based on employer contributions.

i

47

☆

U.s. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1982

0 - 3 6 1 - 2 7 0 (4 9 4 5 )

Bureau ©f labor Statistics
Regional Offices

Region 8V
1371 Peachtree Street, N.E.
Atlanta, Ga. 30367
Phone: (404) 881-4418

Regions VSi and VII!
911 Walnut Street
Kansas City, Mo. 64106
Phone: (816) 374-2481

Region ll
Suite 3400
1515 Broadway
New York, N.Y. 10036
Phone: (212) 944-3121

Region V
9th Floor
Federal Office Building
230 S. Dearborn Street
Chicago, III. 60604
Phone: (312) 353-1880

Regions IX and X
450 Golden Gate Avenue
Box 36017
San Francisco, Calif. 94102
Phone: (415) 556-4678

Region S
IS
3535 Market Street
P.O. Box 13309
Philadelphia, Pa. 19101
Phone: (215) 596-1154

Region VI
Second Floor
555 Griffin Square Building
Dallas, Tex. 75202
Phone: (214) 767-6971

Region S
1603 JFK Federal Building
Government Center
Boston, Mass. 02203
Phone: (617) 223-6761