For 90% of companies in the U.S., being married means getting more benefits, Thomsons Online Benefits notes in its 2019 report, “The Cost of Being Single Revealed.” That firm polled 300 human resources professionals in the U.S. “In 2017, the U.S. Census reported over 110 million Americans over the age of 18 are currently unmarried,” says Matthew Jackson, vice president of client solutions at Thomsons Online Benefits. “That’s 45% of the U.S. population.”
Being single should not mean being cheated of benefits “simply because of family structure,” he notes.
Married employees, on average, had 3.6 more days of paid time off annually versus single workers. This is often because this benefit is offered for weddings and honeymoons. Employers funnel an average of $462 per month to a married worker’s healthcare plan, which is $118 more than what a single employee receives.