A Report on the Distribution of Selected Employment Benefits of Older Workers

Vigorous legislative activity is taking place regarding paid sick leave in the United States. Most existing research measures paid sick days autonomously without also considering other benefits such as flexible work and paid vacation. This descriptive study of a nationally representative sample of 4428 adult male workers finds 77.1% of workers have a combination of paid sick leave, flexible work, and vacation, while only 16.8% have just one of the three benefits. Future research should examine the correlates of combined benefit packages in terms of workers’ physical, emotional and financial health and wellbeing. Nationally representative data collection efforts should refine the measurement of workplace benefit variable to allow for these comparisons.