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Sixty-six percent of private industry workers had access to employer-provided retirement plans in March 2016. Having access means employers offered the benefit, regardless of whether employees chose to participate. Forty-nine percent of private industry workers participated in retirement plans in March 2016. That results in a take-up rate—the percentage of workers with access to a plan who participate in the plan—of 75 percent. Access, participation, and take-up rates were all higher for workers in higher wage groups than for workers in lower wage groups.
Type of retirement plan and wage category | Access | Participation | Take-up rate |
---|---|---|---|
All retirement benefits |
|||
All workers |
66% | 49% | 75% |
Lowest 10 percent |
33 | 14 | 42 |
Lowest 25 percent |
42 | 22 | 52 |
Second 25 percent |
65 | 45 | 69 |
Third 25 percent |
78 | 64 | 82 |
Highest 25 percent |
87 | 76 | 88 |
Highest 10 percent |
88 | 79 | 90 |
Defined benefit plans |
|||
All workers |
18 | 15 | 83 |
Lowest 10 percent |
4 | 2 | 52 |
Lowest 25 percent |
6 | 4 | 63 |
Second 25 percent |
13 | 10 | 80 |
Third 25 percent |
23 | 20 | 86 |
Highest 25 percent |
34 | 29 | 86 |
Highest 10 percent |
35 | 29 | 84 |
Defined contribution plans |
|||
All workers |
62 | 44 | 72 |
Lowest 10 percent |
30 | 12 | 40 |
Lowest 25 percent |
39 | 19 | 49 |
Second 25 percent |
61 | 40 | 66 |
Third 25 percent |
72 | 56 | 78 |
Highest 25 percent |
82 | 69 | 84 |
Highest 10 percent |
84 | 73 | 87 |
Among workers with an average wage in the highest 10 percent, 88 percent had access to employer-provided retirement plans in March 2016. That compares with 33 percent of workers who had access to retirement plans if their average wage was in the lowest 10 percent. Participation followed a similar pattern, with 79 percent of workers in the highest wage group and 14 percent of workers in the lowest wage group participating in retirement plans.
There were also large differences in take-up rates between the highest and lowest wage groups. Even when workers have access to retirement benefits, they may choose not to participate if they have to contribute part of their pay to participate.
Some defined benefit retirement plans require employees to contribute part of their pay to participate. Among employees with access to these types of plans, the take-up rate for workers in the highest wage group was 84 percent, compared with 52 percent for workers in the lowest wage group.
Required contributions are common with defined contribution retirement plans. Among employees with access to these types of plans, the take-up rate for workers in the highest wage group was 87 percent, compared with 40 percent for workers in the lowest wage group.
These data are from the National Compensation Survey — Benefits program. For more information, see National Compensation Survey: Employee Benefits in the United States, March 2016. For more information about terms related to employee benefits, see our glossary.
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Higher paid workers more likely to have access to retirement benefits than lower paid workers at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2017/higher-paid-workers-more-likely-to-have-access-to-retirement-benefits-than-lower-paid-workers.htm (visited November 14, 2024).