Industry News

On November 18, 2021, the National Institute on Retirement Security (NIRS) released its issue brief, Americans’ Views of State-Facilitated Retirement Programs. The new research indicates that about 72% of Americans support state-facilitated retirement programs for workers without workplace plans.

According to the brief, most working Americans are not on track to maintain their standard of living in retirement. The retirement savings shortfall can be attributed to many factors, including fewer pensions, stagnant wages, lack of employer sponsored plans, lower Social Security benefits and rising costs for health, long-term care, and housing.

About 75% of Americans indicated that they would participate in state-facilitated retirement programs. Some of the key features that are viewed as highly favorable include portability (84%), higher returns (82%) and lower fees (82%). Typically, the state-facilitated programs require private sector employers lacking retirement plans to provide their employees with access to retirement accounts through payroll deductions.

Since 2012, about 46 states have either considered, studied or enacted legislation that would establish state-facilitated retirement programs. Currently, 14 states and two cities have enacted these new programs for private sector workers.

The brief is available here.