Health benefits -- Who gets what?

Jul 24 2013

The Wall Street Journal's Real Time Economics: Who Gets Health Benefits?
Bigger businesses are better bets for offering employee benefits than smaller ones. The latest report from the Labor Department on benefits such as health insurance, retirement plans and paid vacations or sick leave found that 88 percent of employees at private-sector establishments with a workforce of 500 or more were likely to have access to health care benefits. That percentage declined along with the size of the workforce. At enterprises with between 50 and 99 employees, 69 percent of workers had access to such benefits. The same trend largely held true for state and local government employers. The Labor Department's annual report on employee benefits, issued last week, gives a snapshot of how many workers are offered -- and participate in -- employer-sponsored programs for insurance and retirement (Cronin, 7/22).