How many American workers participate in workplace retirement plans?
Date Published:
Wednesday, July 12, 2017 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 2016 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 2016.
All workers: private-sector, state and local government workers. (133 million full and part-time workers):
| Percentage of workers participating in a workplace retirement plan: | 54 |
| Percentage of workers participating in a pension plan: | 23 |
| Percentage of workers participating in a retirement savings plan: | 40 |
| Percentage of all workers participating in a retirement plan who are in a pension plan: | 43* |
*(30.6 million workers. Pension Rights Center calculations based on NCS data.)
Private-sector workers. (114 million full and part-time workers):
| Percentage of private-sector workers participating in a workplace retirement plan: | 49 |
| Percentage of private-sector workers participating in a pension plan: | 15 |
| Percentage of private-sector workers participating in a retirement savings plan: | 44 |
| Percentage of private-sector workers participating in a retirement plan who are in a pension plan: | 31* |
*(17.1 million workers. Pension Rights Center calculations based on NCS data.)
State and local government workers. (19 million full and part-time workers):
| Percentage of workers participating in a workplace retirement plan: | 81 |
| Percentage of workers participating in a pension plan: | 75 |
| Percentage of workers participating in a retirement savings plan: | 15 |
| Percentage of state and local government workers participating in a retirement plan who are in a pension plan: | 92.6* |
*(14.3 million workers. Pension Rights Center calculations based on NCS data.)
Tags: Statistics
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Did You Know?
A 401(k) plan is a retirement savings plan in which the benefit is based on contributions to an individual account and the investment return on those contributions. Typically, employees make contributions to the plan and, in many cases, employers match the employees' contributions. These plans are called defined contribution plans. In most 401(k) and other retirement savings plans, the employee is responsible for choosing among the investments offered by the plan. Other types of retirement savings plans are 403(b) and 457 plans.
