Defined benefit retirement plans: Employee contribution requirement and method of contribution Standard Errors

Table 3. Standard errors for defined benefit retirement plans: Employee contribution
requirement and method of contribution, private industry workers, National Compensation Survey, March 2008

(All workers participating in defined benefit plans = 100 percent)

 

Employee
contribution
required

Fixed percent of earnings1

Employee
contibution
not
required

Total

Mean fixed
percent of
earnings

Median
fixed
percent of
earnings

All workers

0.9

0.9

1.0

–

0.9

Worker characteristics

          

Management, professional, and related

0.8

0.7

0.7

–

0.8

    Management, business, and financial

0.5

0.4

0.4

–

0.5

    Professional and related

1.2

1.2

0.8

–

1.2

Natural resources, construction, and maintenance

0.9

0.5

–

–

0.9

    Construction, extraction, farming, fishing, and
     forestry

0.8

–

–

–

0.8

    Installation, maintenance, and repair

1.5

0.7

0.4

0.5

1.5

Production, transportation, and material moving

1.2

0.9

0.7

–

1.2

    Production

1.7

–

–

–

1.7

    Transportation and material moving

1.8

–

–

–

1.8

Full time

0.9

0.8

1.0

–

0.9

Part time

2.4

–

–

–

2.4

Union

1.4

–

–

–

1.4

Nonunion

0.8

0.8

0.9

–

0.8

Average wage within the following percentiles:2

          

    25 to under 50

1.6

1.5

1.2

–

1.6

    50 to under 75

0.6

0.6

0.7

1.2

0.6

    75 to under 90

0.8

0.4

1.6

–

0.8

    90 or greater

1.1

1.0

0.9

–

1.1

Establishment characteristics

          

Goods-producing industries

0.8

0.5

–

0.7

0.8

    Manufacturing

0.8

0.6

0.3

–

0.8

Service-providing industries

1.3

1.2

1.0

–

1.3

    Trade, transportation, and utilities

1.1

1.1

–

–

1.1

        Finance and insurance

0.3

–

–

–

0.3

            Credit intermediation and related activities

0.4

–

–

–

0.4

            Insurance carriers and related activities

–

–

–

–

0.0

        Accommodation and food services

–

–

–

–

0.0

1 to 99 workers

1.2

1.1

0.7

–

1.2

    1 to 49 workers

1.9

1.8

0.8

–

1.9

    50 to 99 workers

0.6

–

–

–

0.6

100 workers or more

1.1

1.1

0.9

–

1.1

    100 to 499 workers

2.6

–

–

–

2.6

    500 workers or more

0.5

0.4

0.7

–

0.5

Geographic areas

          

Metropolitan areas

1.0

1.0

0.8

–

1.0

Nonmetropolitan areas

2.6

2.4

0.8

–

2.6

New England

0.6

–

–

–

0.6

East North Central

0.7

0.4

0.7

0.3

0.7

South Atlantic

1.2

–

–

–

1.2

East South Central

2.3

–

–

–

2.3

Pacific

1.3

1.1

0.9

–

1.3

Footnotes:

1The employee contributes a fixed percentage of his or her earnings to the retirement plan.

2The percentile groupings are based on the average wage for each occupation surveyed, which may include workers both above and below the threshold. The percentile values are based on the estimates published in the "National Compensation Survey: Occupational Earnings in the United States, 2007." See Technical Note for more details.

NOTE: Dash indicates no workers in this category or data did not meet publication criteria.