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Pension Sponsorship and Participation: Summary of Recent Trends

    
The Congressional Research Service (CRS) has updated its report titled "Pension Sponsorship and Participation: Summary of Recent Trends."

In a summary of the report the CRS noted that the number of workers in the private sector whose employer sponsored a retirement plan was essentially unchanged from 2002 to 2003. Among workers in the private sector between the ages of 25 and 64, the number whose employer sponsored a retirement plan was 53.3 million in 2003, compared to 53.2 million in 2002. The number of workers who participated in an employer-sponsored retirement plan increased from 43.2 million in 2002 to 43.5 million in 2003. The percentage of 25 to 64-year-old, employees in the private sector who participated in an employer-sponsored retirement plan rose from 46.3% in 2002 to 46.7% in 2003.

Further, a analysis by the CRS of the Census Bureau's Current Population Survey indicates that, among workers 25 to 64 years old who were employed in the private sector and worked year-round, full-time:

  • The percentage of workers whose employer sponsored a retirement plan was 62.0% in 2002 and 62.7% in 2003.
  • The percentage of workers who participated in an employer-sponsored retirement plan was 53.5% in 2002 and 54.1% in 2003.
  • Only 27.2% of workers at firms with fewer than 25 employers participated in an employer-sponsored retirement plan in 2003, compared to 49.9% of workers at firms with 25 to 99 employees and 67.6% of workers at firms with 100 or more employees.
  • In 2003, there was relatively little difference in retirement plan participation among men and women who were employed full-time: 53.9% of men and 54.3% of women participated in an employer-sponsored retirement plan.
  • In 2003, only 45.7% of private-sector workers 25 to 34 years old who were employed year-round, full-time participated in an employer-sponsored retirement plan, versus 57.4% of workers over age 35 .
  • Black, Hispanic, and other non-white workers were less likely to have participated in an employer-sponsored retirement plan. Fifty-nine percent of white workers participated in a company-sponsored retirement plan in 2003, compared to 49.1% of black non-Hispanic workers, 32.6% of Hispanic workers, and 49.1% of other non-white workers (mainly Asian-American and Native American workers).
  • Only 28.4% of workers whose earnings were in the lowest quartile in 2003 participated in a retirement plan at work, compared to 72.5% of workers whose earnings were in the top quartile.

The percentage of part-year or part-time workers in the private sector whose employer sponsored a retirement plan fell from 43.0% in 2002 to 41.6% in 2003. The percentage of part-year or part-time workers in the private sector who participated in an employer sponsored retirement plan fell from 25.7.0% in 2002 to 25.3% in 2003.

Rick Meigs, President, 401khelpcenter.com, LLC


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