For the second year in a row, the percentage of Washington employers that offer health insurance declined, according to a 2006 benefits survey released last week by the state Employment Security Department.


The percentage of employers offering health benefits to full-time workers declined from 67.8 percent in 2004 to 67.1 percent in 2005 and to 66.4 percent in 2006, the survey found.


Health-insurance offerings to part-time workers had a slightly smaller decline, from 15.1 percent in 2004 and 2005 to 14.2 percent in 2006.


In general, industries that paid higher wages were more likely to offer health benefits than those that paid lower wages. At the same time, the study found that industries with higher-percentage wage increases in 2006 also showed the largest decreases in benefit offerings.


The study didnt produce clear data about the reasons for the decline, but the report notes that employers might have offset rising health-insurance premiums and rising worker wages with reduced benefit offerings.


The study also found that there was a small shift toward merging paid vacation and sick leave into general paid time off. General paid time off increased by 2 percent, while paid vacation and sick leave each declined by 1 percent.


In addition, about 42 percent of employers offered some type of retirement plan, with large companies being far more likely to offer a plan than smaller firms. Of companies with 500 or more workers, 97 percent offered a retirement plan, compared with just 33 percent of businesses with fewer than 10 workers.


The survey was conducted last summer.