Less than half of American workers qualify for a retirement plan through their jobs. But this lack of access is significantly worse in some states, which researchers warn could face a sharp rise in poverty rates among seniors as a result, according to a new study.
About 69 million workers, or 56% of the nation’s workforce, lack a retirement plan through their workplace, the Economic Innovation Group found in its analysis of 2021 census data. That proportion is highest in Florida, where nearly More than 7 in 10 workers save money in an employer-sponsored plan, and the percentage is lowest in Iowa, at about 4 in 10.
Americans’ readiness to retire is divided by income and occupation, with higher-income families more likely to suck money for their later years than lower-wage workers. But there is also a geographic divide, as the analysis found that workers in the South are less likely than those in the Midwest to have access to employer-sponsored plans.
“It certainly limits the ability of these workers to really benefit from the most popular avenue” for retirement savings in the United States, Benjamin Glassner, associate economist at EIG, told CBS MoneyWatch.
“If you don’t have access to it, you can’t even begin to take advantage of the tax benefits of those plans. That’s a very big hurdle that you have to try to overcome on your own,” he added.
The research found that Midwestern workers are the most likely to access employer-based retirement plans, at 49%, while workers in the South are the least likely, with only 42% able to take advantage of a 401(k) or similar.
!function(){“strict use”;window.addEventListener(“message”,(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data(“datawrapper-height”)){var e=document.querySelectorAll( “iframe”);for(var t in a.data(“datawrapper-height”))for(var r=0;r