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CCH® PENSION — 11/17/09

EBRI Examines Demographic Differences In Retirement Plan Participation

from Spencer’s Benefits Reports: In its November 2009 Issue Brief, the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) examines demographic differences in retirement plan participation. The EBRI article is entitled Employment-Based Retirement Plan Participation: Geographic Differences and Trends, 2008.

Highlights of the article include the following:

Sponsorship rate. About 56% of all working-age (21–64) wage and salary employees work for an employer or union that sponsors a retirement plan. Among full-time, full-year wage and salary workers ages 21–64, slightly fewer than 63% worked for an employer or union that sponsors a plan.

Participation level. Among full-time, full-year wage and salary workers ages 21–64, slightly fewer than 55% participated in a retirement plan. This percentage was virtually unchanged from 2007.

Age. Retirement plan participation increased with age (62.7% for wage and salary workers ages 54–64, compared with 29.4% for those ages 21–24).

Gender. Among all workers, men had a higher participation level than women; but among full-time, full-year workers, women had a higher percentage participating than men (56.2% for women, compared with 53.7% for men). Female workers’ lower probability of participation in the aggregate results from their overall lower earnings and lower rates of full-time work in comparison with males.

Geographic differences. Wage and salary workers in the South, West, and Southwest had the lowest participation levels (Florida had the lowest percentage, at 44%); while the upper Midwest and Northeast had the highest levels (Iowa had the highest participation level, at approximately 68%).

Those without a retirement plan. Overall in 2008, 78.0 million workers worked for an employer or a union that did not sponsor a retirement plan and 94.1 million workers did not participate in a plan.

For further information, visit http://www.ebri.org.

For more information on this and related topics, consult the CCH Pension Plan Guide, CCH Employee Benefits Management, and Spencer's Benefits Reports.

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