14 industries with the best employee benefits

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Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared on Smartest Dollar.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought a series of abrupt changes to the US economy, but some of the most lasting impacts may lie in the future of work. From the rise of hybrid and remote work to the Big Layoff and “quiet quits,” workers have renegotiated how they work and what they look for in a job over the past two and a half years.

And with the continued tightness of the job market, employers have been forced to respond and make jobs more attractive to current and potential workers. The Great Resignation is perhaps the most significant trend demonstrating the increased power and mobility of workers since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

While the Great Retirement affects all industries and income levels, turnover is most concentrated in low-wage sectors. Sectors like retail and hospitality have accounted for a disproportionate share of the country’s job turnover over the past two years, with workers often citing difficult working conditions and low, stagnant wages as reasons for moving into new roles. These areas are also likely to offer least important benefits such as health insurance, paid time off and flexible work arrangements – all of which have gained prominence during the pandemic.

Workers looking for benefits in search of better jobs and working conditions may need to look in specific industries to find the employers most likely to offer benefits.

To determine which industries provide the best employee benefits, researchers from Smartest Dollar — an organization that reviews commercial insurance and other business products — calculated a composite score that included the percentage of private sector workers with access to paid vacation and paid leave, Life insurance, equally weighted insurance, health insurance, retirement plans, paid family vacations and flexible working hours. In the event of a tie, the industry with the greater proportion of private sector workers with access to paid leave and paid leave was ranked higher.

The data used in this analysis comes from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Here are the US industries that offer the best employee benefits.

14. Leisure and Hospitality

Jacob Lund / Shutterstock.comComposite Score: 5.1 Paid Vacation: 29% Life Insurance: 17% Health Insurance: 32% Retirement Savings: 31% Paid Family Vacation: 10% Flexible Hours: 10%

13. Administration and support and waste management and sanitation services

Jacob Lund / Shutterstock.comComposite Score: 16.7 Paid Holidays: 65% Life Insurance: 31% Health Insurance: 54% Pension Plans: 43% Paid Family Holidays: 13% Flexible Hours: 10%

12. Retail

imtmphoto / Shutterstock.comComposite Score: 23.1 Paid Holidays: 64% Life Insurance: 41% Health Insurance: 53% Pension Plans: 73% Paid Parental Leave: 24% Flexible Hours: 6%

11. Construction

ronstik / Shutterstock.comComposite Score: 23.1 Paid Vacation: 75% Life Insurance: 49% Health Insurance: 75% Retirement Savings: 63% Paid Family Vacation: 12% Flexible Hours: 5%

10. Real Estate and Rentals and Leases

fizkes / Shutterstock.comComposite score: 33.4 Paid vacation: 84% Life insurance: 60% Health insurance: 72% Retirement savings: 61% Paid family vacation: 17% Flexible working hours: 14%

9. Transportation and storage

Henryk Sadura / Shutterstock.comComposite Score: 35.9 Paid Vacation: 86% Life Insurance: 69% Health Insurance: 85% Retirement Savings: 80% Paid Family Vacation: 9% Flexible Hours: 4%

8. Educational Services

lightpoet / Shutterstock.comComposite Score: 37.2 Paid vacation and vacation time: 55% Life insurance: 69% Health insurance: 73% Retirement savings: 72% Paid family leave: 30% Flexible working hours: 11%

7. Health Care and Social Assistance

S_L / Shutterstock.comComposite Score: 51.3 Paid Vacation: 84% Life Insurance: 63% Health Insurance: 78% Retirement Savings: 74% Paid Family Vacation: 29% Flexible Hours: 15%

6. Wholesale

Fusionstudio / Shutterstock.comComposite Score: 62.8 Paid Vacation and Vacation: 93% Life Insurance: 69% Health Insurance: 89% Retirement Savings: 83% Paid Family Vacation: 25% Flexible Hours: 14%

5. Manufacturing

DuxX / Shutterstock.comComposite Score: 68.0 Paid Vacations: 94% Life Insurance: 80% Health Insurance: 90% Retirement Plans: 84% Paid Family Vacations: 23% Flexible Hours: 11%

4. Information

REDPIXEL.PL / Shutterstock.comComposite Score: 73.1 Paid Vacation: 89% Life Insurance: 78% Health Insurance: 87% Retirement Savings: 78% Paid Family Vacation: 51% Flexible Hours: 34%

3. Professional, scientific and technical services

Andrey_Popov / Shutterstock.comComposite Score: 78.2 Paid Vacation: 91% Life Insurance: 74% Health Insurance: 89% Retirement Savings: 85% Paid Family Vacation: 41% Flexible Hours: 46%

2. Utilities

thanatphoto / Shutterstock.comComposite Score: 87.2 Paid vacation: 99% Life insurance: 98% Health insurance: 99% Retirement plans: 98% Paid parental leave: 49% Flexible working hours: 11%

1. Finance and Insurance

fizkes / Shutterstock.comComposite Score: 92.3 Paid Vacation: 97% Life Insurance: 90% Health Insurance: 94% Retirement Savings: 93% Paid Family Vacation: 50% Flexible Hours: 38%

methodology

Bacho / Shutterstock.com

The data used in this analysis comes from the 2022 Employee Benefits Survey and the US Bureau of Labor Statistics Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. To determine which industries offer the best employee benefits, Smartest Dollar researchers calculated a composite score that weighted equally the percentage of private sector employees with access to the following benefits:

Paid vacation and vacation Life insurance Health insurance Retirement plans Paid family leave Flexible working hours

In the event of a tie, the industry with the greater proportion of private sector workers with access to paid leave and paid leave was ranked higher.