However, examining life-only statistics, while term sales increased in 2006 by more than 13 percent, universal life and whole life sales decreased by 3 percent. That trend continued through the first quarter of this year. LIMRA's first-quarter survey of 22 voluntary permanent life carriers showed an 8.6 percent decline in sales versus 2006 figures. So what explains the plunge in sales of a product most employees know they need? Theories abound, but here are a couple that seem to make sense:

• More benefits are being offered. The voluntary benefits marketplace has become more of a shopping mall for employees. With more choices and limited discretionary dollars, employees tend to choose the products that offer more immediate payoff. The good news, according to Lowerre: 65 percent of employees own at least one voluntary product, up from 40 percent in 2002. The bad news, from a life perspective: only 26 percent own a voluntary life product, and most of those choose term.  
• Changing enrollment methodologies. As more large employers move toward a self-serve, Web-based enrollment system, their employees tend to select products with more sizzle. What was true in 1985 remains true today: permanent life insurance is sold, not bought.

Considering the statistics and the changing worksite product and enrollment landscape, one might conclude that a need for voluntary permanent life insurance no longer exists. Nothing could be further from the truth. Ponder these LIMRA statistics:  

• More than half of U.S. households have only the group term their employer provides.  
• More than 75 percent of all death benefits paid are from individually owned policies.  
• More than 90 percent of term life, either individually owned or group, expires without paying a death benefit.

What do these numbers tell us? The answer is obvious: While term insurance is a very cost-effective way to protect a wage-earner's family from unexpected death, most of the time, it's not in force when the insured dies. Yet many families depend totally on employer-paid group term for their life insurance protection.

There's an old saying in the life insurance industry. Term insurance is for if you die; permanent insurance is for when you die, and one fact is irrefutable: everybody dies. For the employee, the question becomes, "When do you want a life insurance policy in force?" The answer: "When you die."

Unfortunately, term is seldom in force when people die, which brings us back to the point. Regardless of the number of benefits offered, regardless of the enrollment methodology, employees need permanent life insurance, policies designed to be in force when they die.

To understand the problem further, we need to take a look inside some of the numbers. Arguably, the most disturbing of all the statistics is the fact that more than half of U.S. households have life insurance consisting solely of the group term an employer provides. Why is that? Probably because most life insurance agents who specialize in the individual market don't call on rank-and-file employees. Rather, they spend their time and energy on the top 10 percent to 20 percent of income earners in their communities. That's where the larger sales, and the larger commissions, reside.

That leaves the average employee without the opportunity to purchase quality permanent life insurance unless his or her employer makes it available at the worksite. Group term is a product of great value to employees. Typically paid for by the employer, it provides at least a foundation of life insurance coverage for people who otherwise wouldn't have any.

However, it can give employees a false sense of security, because regardless of the plan, two things are true of term life insurance: as people age, the cost goes up and the benefit goes down. Particularly with group term, the death benefit typically disappears after the employee retires.

Employee-paid optional term has become more popular over the past few years, for several reasons. First, it allows employees to purchase larger amounts of life insurance through the convenience of payroll deduction. Second, it's very affordable, particularly at younger ages. Third, employers like it because it's paid for by employees.

Finally, many voluntary group term plans have portability options. Even so, the same two truths apply: as employees age, the cost rises while the benefit declines.

The bottom line is this: for many wage-earners who depend solely on group and optional term, there will be no life insurance in force at precisely the moment they need it, when they die. Without some permanent coverage, scores of employees and their dependents will die without life insurance.

A school of thought that has become more prominent in recent years holds that if people do well enough with their investments, they won't need post-retirement life insurance. With the widespread availability of 401(k) plans, even the lowest paid employees have investment opportunities their parents and grandparents didn't have. While this idea has merit, it ignores critical facts.

First, many lower paid wage-earners don't participate in 401(k) plans, and even when they do, the contribution amounts are small. The capital they accumulate during their working years is used as retirement income and does not provide significant funds for such things as final expenses, burial and other death-related costs.

A second fact that often goes ignored is that many employees, however well intentioned, don't always follow through with investment plans. Immediate financial pressures, desire for consumer products and rising energy and credit card bills often cause employees to ditch retirement saving just to make ends meet. As in decades past, the best way to provide for the expenses people incur when a wage earner dies continues to be the cash death benefit life insurance provides. Without that immediate, income tax-free cash infusion, families founder.

Uninsured and underinsured employees and their families present a distinct challenge to the communities in which they live. This is not to say that permanent life insurance is a panacea. It does, however, enable survivors to pay for final expenses and funerals, and it gives them some financial breathing room to make wise choices for the future. A tried-and-true adage holds that hurried financial decisions typically end up being the wrong ones.

Permanent life insurance is good for employees; it's also good for employers. Adding voluntary benefits enables the employer to enhance the company's benefit package at no direct cost. Of course, as in any voluntary enrollment, there a couple of indirect costs: the time to establish payroll deductions, and more importantly, the time the employer gives the enrollers to see each employee at the worksite.

These face-to-face interviews let insurance professionals explain the benefits of permanent life insurance to each individual employee at a particular company. While it is among the oldest of voluntary benefits, permanent life is also one of the freshest. It provides peace of mind for employees and strong benefits for the communities in which they live and work. The case for voluntary permanent life insurance remains strong. Perhaps it's time brokers – and benefits managers – revisited it.