How many American workers participate in workplace retirement plans?

Annual figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics help paint a picture of the number of Americans who participate in a retirement plan at work.  Typically in any year only half of workers participate in a retirement plan at work.  In 2017 participation by all civilian workers, full and part-time, was 54 percent.   The information below comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ National Compensation Survey for 2017.

All workers: private-sector, state and local government workers. (135 million full and part-time workers):

*(31.1 million workers. Pension Rights Center calculations based on NCS data.)

Private-sector workers. (116 million full and part-time workers):

*(17.4 million workers. Pension Rights Center calculations based on NCS data.)

State and local government workers. (19 million full and part-time workers):

*(14.3 million workers. Pension Rights Center calculations based on NCS data.)

Sources

For data on workers’ access to retirement plans click here.

For data on full and part-time workers click here.