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Several states are working on plans to help workers save for retirement. The Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that only about half of full-time workers employed by small businesses or organizations have access to an employer-based retirement plan. By comparison, the numbers show 85 percent of Americans who work for employers with 100 or more employees do have access to an employer-provided retirement plan or benefits program.
To help close the gap, some states are providing access for eligible workers to state-managed individual retirement accounts funded by automatic deductions from the worker’s paychecks. For example, in 2017 Illinois will launch the Secure Choice Retirement Savings Program, which gives workers a retirement plan option. Full-time employees working for qualified businesses (who do not already provide retirement benefits) will be automatically enrolled into a direct deduction retirement savings plan with a minimum three percent deduction each paycheck. The employee can choose to have more withheld or to opt out of the program entirely. The money is deposited into a Roth IRA.
The Pension Rights Center in Washington, DC has been monitoring the development of state-administered retirement plans for private-sector workers. It shows that currently 27 states have already approved or are debating proposals to launch state-based retirement plans including: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
Last September, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) published a report detailing how “half of private sector workers, especially those who are low-income or employed by small firms, lack coverage from a workplace retirement savings program primarily because they do not have access.” The GAO is recommending ways that the federal government can make it easier for states to manage such plans, while not placing a financial or administrative burden on small business.
