Defined benefit retirement plans: Employee contribution requirement and method of contribution Data Table

Table 3. 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)

Characteristics

Total

Employee
contribution
required

Fixed percent of earnings1

Employee
contibution
not
required

Total

Mean fixed
percent of
earnings

Median
fixed
percent of
earnings

All workers

100

4

3

5.0

–

96

Worker characteristics

            

Management, professional, and related

100

3

3

4.4

–

97

    Management, business, and financial

100

2

1

4.5

–

98

    Professional and related

100

4

4

4.4

–

96

Natural resources, construction, and maintenance

100

3

1

–

–

97

    Construction, extraction, farming, fishing, and
     forestry

100

2

–

–

–

98

    Installation, maintenance, and repair

100

4

2

3.0

3.0

96

Production, transportation, and material moving

100

5

2

3.5

–

95

    Production

100

5

–

–

–

95

    Transportation and material moving

100

5

–

–

–

95

Full time

100

4

2

4.9

–

96

Part time

100

5

–

–

–

95

Union

100

3

–

–

–

97

Nonunion

100

4

3

4.7

–

96

Average wage within the following percentiles:2

            

    25 to under 50

100

4

4

4.8

–

96

    50 to under 75

100

3

2

4.1

3.9

97

    75 to under 90

100

3

1

5.4

–

97

    90 or greater

100

3

3

4.6

–

97

Establishment characteristics

            

Goods-producing industries

100

3

1

–

3.0

97

    Manufacturing

100

3

1

2.7

–

97

Service-providing industries

100

4

3

5.0

–

96

    Trade, transportation, and utilities

100

3

2

–

–

97

        Finance and insurance

100

1

–

–

–

99

            Credit intermediation and related activities

100

1

–

–

–

99

            Insurance carriers and related activities

100

–

–

–

–

100

        Accommodation and food services

100

–

–

–

–

100

1 to 99 workers

100

3

3

3.2

–

97

    1 to 49 workers

100

5

4

3.0

–

95

    50 to 99 workers

100

1

–

–

–

99

100 workers or more

100

4

3

5.7

–

96

    100 to 499 workers

100

6

–

–

–

94

    500 workers or more

100

2

1

2.7

–

98

Geographic areas

            

Metropolitan areas

100

3

2

5.7

–

97

Nonmetropolitan areas

100

8

5

2.9

–

92

New England

100

2

–

–

–

98

East North Central

100

2

1

4.2

3.0

98

South Atlantic

100

5

–

–

–

95

East South Central

100

5

–

–

–

95

Pacific

100

3

3

3.8

–

97

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: Because of rounding, sums of individual items may not equal totals. Dash indicates no workers in this category or data did not meet publication criteria.