CHP/PCOR fellow Laurence C. Baker provides comment for an Aug. 25 San Francisco Chronicle article on a Bureau of Labor Statistics report which found that workers in the West have higher-than-average access to employer-sponsored health coverage, but are offered retiree benefits at the lowest rate in the nation. Baker discusses how the nature of California employers and industries -- which tend to be smaller, newer and less unionized -- contributes to the regional differences the report found.

The report is based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics' National Compensation Survey, which relies on responses from more than 4,500 private employers and covers about 103 million workers.