19 Steps Forward In The Retirement Security Struggle
In a new Forbes column, NIRS Executive Director Dan Doonan writes about a new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, Older Workers: Retirement Account Disparities Have Increased by Income and Persisted by Race Over Time. The analysis finds that many Americans are losing ground when it comes to building retirement savings, despite policy efforts to improve workers’ savings.
But amid this retirement doom and gloom there is a bright spot, especially for the 57 million people (about half of the U.S. workforce) who work for an employer that does not offer a retirement plan. Nineteen states now offer—or soon will offer—retirement plans to private sector workers without a plan at their job. Just this year, three new programs were enacted in Minnesota, Missouri, and Nevada.
Statement on Efforts in Alaska to Restore Pension Benefits to Address Grave Workforce Shortage
Alaska’s effort to restore a pension plan for public workers represents meaningful progress in addressing one of the state’s most pressing challenges: attracting and retaining a stable, experienced public workforce. While Governor Dunleavy has vetoed the legislation, the fact that the measure passed both the House and Senate demonstrates a growing recognition that retirement benefits are not just about retirement security — they also are an essential workforce management tool.
