Program Perspectives: Paid Sick Leave in the United States

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is pleased to announce a new issue of its on-line publication BLS Program Perspectives.  Each issue of this series highlights previously-published BLS data and how they provide useful information and context for understanding a selected topic.

The new publication is available at http://www.bls.gov/opub/perspectives.

This issue of the BLS Program Perspectives examines paid sick leave benefits, including both the percentage of employees with access to paid sick leave and the associated employer costs. These data show that length of service had minimal impact on paid sick leave provisions, but several other worker and company characteristics did affect the provisions. Additionally, BLS data show that worker characteristics contributed to the differing employer costs associated with providing paid sick leave benefits. These data are from the National Compensation Surveys on Employee Benefits in the United States and Employer Costs for Employee Compensation. Highlights of the data are shown below. 

• Private industry workers access to paid sick leave benefits varied by occupational group and ranged from 84 percent for management, professional, and related occupations to 42 percent for service workers.
• Eighty-one percent of employees earning wages in the highest 25 percent of the wage distribution had access to paid sick leave, compared with only 33 percent for employees in the lowest 25 percent.
• In private industry, employees received an average of 8 days of paid sick leave after 1 year of service, with large establishments providing an average of 11 days and small establishments offering an average of 6 days.
• The cost for sick leave per employee hour worked in State and local government was 81 cents compared to 23 cents in private industry.
• Higher paying occupations typically incur higher sick leave costs.  For example, the average employer cost for sick leave benefits in management, professional, and related occupations was 53 cents per employee hour worked in private industry; the cost for service occupations was just 8 cents per employee hour worked.

Previous issues of the BLS Program Perspectives featured health benefits, paid-leave benefits, retirement benefits and access to employer-provided benefits by wage level. The next issue will feature data on frozen defined-benefit plans. In the future, the Program Perspectives library will expand to highlight topics outside of benefits.

We hope you enjoy the Program Perspectives publication and welcome your comments and suggestions. If you would like to be removed from this list, please send an email to BLSinfoPhiladelphia@bls.gov with the word "remove" in the subject or call us at 215-597-3282.

Branch of Economic Analysis and Information

Mid-Atlantic Information Office

Tel: (215)597-3282

Fax: (215)861-5720

Email: BLSmediaPhiladelphia@bls.gov

Web site: www.bls.gov/ro3/