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FAQs About Benefits—Retirement Issues
What portion of workers are accruing benefits in an employment-based retirement plan?
About half of adults working full-time are in an employment-based retirement plan. Coverage expanded steadily for several decades after 1940, when only 15% of working adults had such coverage. However, retirement plan coverage peaked in 1980 and has declined modestly since.
Bureau of Labor Statistics data from late 2003 show that 49% of all workers and 58% of full-time workers are in a retirement plan. The numbers are significantly higher among public-sector employees. Those with the following attributes are most likely to be covered by an employment-based retirement plan:
See also October 2003 Essue Brief - Employment-Based Retirement and Pension Plan Participation: Declining Levels and Geographic Differences
General Overview of Benefits
Retirement Issues
- Where do people get income to finance their retirement?
- Do retirees think their income is adequate?
- What are the basic types of retirement plans?
- How much money is in retirement accounts, and how is it held?
- How many retirees receive work-related pensions?
- Who is most likely to be receiving a pension?
- What's the current trend on pension payments?
- What portion of workers are accruing benefits in an employment-based retirement plan?
- What do retirement plans cost employers?
- What are the trends in retirement plan coverage in the United States?
- What about personal saving for retirement?
- Are the types of retirement plans changing?
- What are the trends in defined benefit pension plans?
Health Spending and Insurance Issues
- What has America spent on health care in recent years?
- Is the average American spending a growing amount on health?
- Are these averages indicative of what a typical family pays for medical care?
- Has the amount Americans spend directly on health been growing?
- Has responsibility for paying medical bills shifted over time?
- What do workers and employers pay for employment-based coverage?
- What do employers pay for health benefits as a percent of compensation?
- How does this pattern compare with what's found in other nations?
- Has the way health dollars are spent changed?
- How many Americans have health insurance?
- Where do Americans get their health insurance?
- Which workers are most likely to have employment-based coverage?
Other Benefit Issues