Access to retirement, medical benefits better for government workers then private sector.

• Position: Brief article

State and local government workers have more access to retirement benefits and medical care than workers in the private sector, according to a study recently released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the U.S. Department of Labor.

The data, gathered for the National Compensation Survey (NCS) in March, indicate that 89 percent of state and local government employees had access to paid retirement benefits, and 87 percent had medical care benefits available. That compares with 61 percent of private-sector workers who had access to paid retirement benefits, and about 71 percent who had access to medical care benefits.

Overall, two-thirds of U.S. workers...