CRS Summarizes Recent Trends in Pension Coverage and Participation
CRS Summarizes Recent Trends in Pension Coverage and Participation
- AuthorsPurcell, J. Patrick
- Institutional AuthorsCongressional Research Service
- Subject Area/Tax Topics
- Index Termslegislation, taxpension plansIRAsincome tax, individuals
- Jurisdictions
- LanguageEnglish
- Tax Analysts Document NumberDoc 2000-29346 (31 original pages)
- Tax Analysts Electronic Citation2000 TNT 222-24
=============== SUMMARY ===============
A November 6 Congressional Research Service report, "Pension Coverage and Participation: Summary of Recent Trends," outlines the recent trends in employee coverage and participation in employer- sponsored pension and retirement savings plans.
Written by Patrick J. Purcell, the report found that incentives given to employers and employees through the tax code to promote wider pension coverage have been successful, especially for medium and large businesses. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 1997, 79 percent of full-time employees in medium and large private businesses participated in an employer-sponsored pension or retirement savings plan.
In small businesses, pension participation has not been as successful. In businesses with fewer than 100 employees, only 42 percent of full-time employees participated in employer-sponsored plans in 1996.
Because of the low rates of sponsorship and participation, Congress has tried to reduce the number of obstacles that block pension coverage in small businesses. They have authorized retirement plans for small employers with fewer reporting requirements and less stringent contribution rules that are imposed on larger employers.
The CRS also reports that in 1999, 59 percent of men and 56 percent of women participated in pension plans and workers 25 to 34 years old are less likely than older workers to participate. Pension participation rose among white and other nonwhite workers in the 1990s, but remained unchanged among African-American workers and part-year or part-time workers are much less likely than year-round, full-time workers to participate.
Updated annually, the report is compiled from data collected in surveys of employers conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and surveys of households conducted by the Bureau of Census.
=============== FULL TEXT ===============
CRS REPORT FOR CONGRESS
November 6, 2000
Patrick J. Purcell
Specialist in Social Legislation
Domestic Social Policy Division
ABSTRACT
[1] This report summarizes recent trends in employee coverage and participation in employer-sponsored pensions and retirement savings plans. It is based on data collected in surveys of employers conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and surveys of households conducted by the Bureau of the Census. This report will be updated annually.
SUMMARY
[2] In order to help workers prepare for retirement, Congress has granted tax exemptions or deferrals for income set aside in pension plans and retirement savings accounts. Efforts to promote wider pension coverage by offering incentives to employers and employees through the tax code generally have been successful, especially for workers employed in medium and large firms. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 79% of full-time employees in medium and large private establishments participated in an employer- sponsored pension or retirement savings plan in 1997. Pension participation in small businesses, however, has lagged behind the rates achieved in larger firms. In 1996, only 42% of full-time employees in businesses with fewer than 100 employees participated in an employer-sponsored pension or retirement savings plan.
[3] The low rates of sponsorship and participation in retirement plans among small businesses have prompted Congress to seek to reduce the number of obstacles that impede pension coverage in these firms. For example, Congress has authorized retirement plans for small employers with fewer reporting requirements and less stringent contribution rules than are imposed on larger employers. Evaluating the effect of these laws on pension coverage is complicated by the many other variables that affect a firm's decision to sponsor a retirement plan and a worker's decision to participate in the plan. Nevertheless, data on pension coverage collected in recent national surveys of employers and households can be used to establish a baseline against which future changes in coverage can be measured. Recent surveys of employers and households reveal that:
o Pension participation remained steady in medium and large
firms during the 1990s, while it rose in firms with fewer than
100 employees.
o Despite recent increases in coverage, employees in firms with
fewer than 100 employees are only about half as likely as
employees in larger firms to be participants in an employer-
sponsored pension or retirement savings plan.
o In 1999, there was relatively little difference in the rate of
pension participation among men and women who worked year-
round, full-time (59% vs. 56%, respectively).
o Workers 25 to 34 years old are less likely than older workers
to participate in an employer-sponsored pension or retirement
savings plan.
o Pension participation rose among white and other nonwhite
workers in the 1990s, but remained unchanged among African-
American workers.
o Between 1990 and 1999, the percentage of workers earning less
than $20,000 per year (in 1999 $) whose employer sponsored a
retirement plan rose from 37% to 43%, but only 29% of workers
earning under $20,000 participated in an employer-sponsored
pension or retirement savings plan in 1999.
o Part-year or part-time workers are much less likely than
workers employed year-round, full-time to be participants in
an employer-sponsored pension or retirement savings plan (26%
vs. 58% in 1999).
CONTENTS
Background on Pension Policy and Coverage Issues
Congress and Retirement Income Policies
Simplified Defined Benefit Plans for Small Employers:
The "SAFE" and "SMART" Proposals
Recent Trends in Coverage by Employer-Sponsored Pension Plans
Data Collected from Employers
Medium and Large Finns
Small Firms
Pension Plan Financial Trends
Data Collected from Households
Pension Participation by Size of Employer
Pension Participation by Employee Gender
Pension Participation by Employee Age
Employee Pension Participation by Race
Pension Participation by Employee Earnings
Pension Participation by Full-time vs. Part-time Employment
Policy Implications: Promoting Savings and Plan Sponsorship
Promoting Retirement Savings
Promoting Plan Sponsorship
Appendix: Sources of Pension Coverage Data
The IRS Form 5500
Surveys of Employers
Surveys of Households
References
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1. Participation in Employer-sponsored Pension or
Retirement Savings Plans in Medium and Large Private
Establishments
Table 2. Participation in Employer-sponsored Pension or
Retirement Savings Plans in Small, Independently-owned Businesses
Table 3. Participation in Retirement Plans by Size of Firm
Table 4. Participation in Retirement Plans by Employee Gender
Table 5. Participation in Retirement Plans by Employee Age
Table 6. Participation in Retirement Plans by Employee Race
Table 7. Participation in Retirement Plans by Annual Earnings
Table 8. Participation in Pension or Retirement Savings Plans
by Full-Time vs. Part-Time Employment
BACKGROUND ON PENSION POLICY AND COVERAGE ISSUES
[4] The aging of the American population has made retirement income an issue of increasing concern to the Congress and the public. Americans are living longer than ever before, and although they are living longer, many are retiring earlier. Moreover, while the nation's population continues to grow, the decline in birth rates that followed the post-World War II "baby boom" coupled with longer life spans will result in fewer workers relative to the number of retirees. This will place significant fiscal strains over the next several decades on programs like Social Security and Medicare that provide benefits mainly to the elderly. All of these trends will affect the economic well-being of future retirees. Pensions and Social Security benefits will be paid over longer periods of time; savings will have to be stretched over longer retirements; and Social Security payments and Medicare benefits will have to be financed by a working population that is shrinking relative to the number of retirees.
[5] AMERICANS ARE LIVING LONGER THEN EVER BEFORE. The average life expectancy of Americans born in 1960 was 69.7 years. It has been estimated that those who are born in 2000 will live for an average of 76.4 years. 1 A man who reached age 65 in 1960 could expect to live another 13 years, while a woman who turned 65 had a remaining life expectancy of 16 years. A man who reaches age 65 in 2000 can expect to live another 15.6 years, while a woman who turns 65 in 2000 will have a remaining life expectancy of 19.4 years. As more people live into old age, the age-profile of the population will shift. In 1960, 16.7 million people in the United States -- 9.2% of the population -- were age 65 or older. In 1997, there were 34 million Americans age 65 or older, representing 12.7% of the population. By 2025, according to projections made by the Bureau of the Census, there will be 62 million people age 65 or older, comprising 18.5% of the U.S. population.
[6] WORKING MEN ARE RETIRING EARLIER. Between 1970 and 1999, the proportion of men aged 55 to 64 years old who were participating in the labor force fell from 83% to 68%. 2 As a result of longer lives and earlier retirements, the length of retirements is being stretched at both ends. Earlier retirements and longer life-spans mean that the number of years spent in retirement, and thus the number of years during which income must be derived mainly from sources other than current employment, are increasing.
[7] FAMILIES ARE SMALLER THAN THEY WERE IN THE 1950s AND 1960s. The decline in birth rates that followed the post-World War 11 "baby boom" may have an impact on the income of retirees in the first decades of the 21st century. 3 Birth rates fell sharply between 1960 and 1975 and have remained low since then. In 1960, there were 118 births per 1,000 women between the ages of 15 and 44. By 1975, the birth rate had fallen to 66 per 1,000 women of child-bearing age, and from that year through 1997 it never exceeded 70 births per 1,000 women. 4 Social Security faces long-term financial difficulties in part because of the declining ratio of workers to retirees. In 1960, there were 5.7 working-age people (20-64) for every person age 65 or older. By 1998, the ratio of working-age people to those age 65 or older had fallen to 4.6. According to the U.S. Bureau of the Census, by 2025 the ratio of working-age people to people age 65 or older will have fallen to 3.0. As Social Security is currently financed, fewer workers paying taxes will mean that tax rates must be increased or benefits must be reduced.
[8] CONGRESS AND RETIREMENT INCOME POLICIES. The demographic trends described above will place strains on the components of the traditional "three-legged stool" of retirement income: Social Security, pensions, and personal saving. The Congress is currently considering a wide range of proposals to revise and reform Social Security in response to estimates by the system's Board of Trustees that Social Security will be financially insolvent by 2037. 5 Because Social Security benefits are financed through a federally- administered system of payroll taxes, it has always been a subject of great interest to the Congress. Social Security is also the largest single source of income among older Americans. Social Security pays benefits to more than 90% of people who are age 65 or older, and nearly two-thirds of the program's beneficiaries receive more than half of their income from Social Security. 6
[9] Social Security is the most significant source of income among the elderly, providing 38% of all income received by Americans age 65 or older in 1998, pensions and savings are also important sources of income to retirees. In 1998, pensions provided 18% of all income received by the elderly, while interest and dividends comprised 20% of elderly income. 7 By granting tax exemptions and deferrals, Congress has had a major role in helping workers prepare for retirement by encouraging participation in pension plans and retirement savings accounts.
[10] The Internal Revenue Code was first amended to provide favorable tax treatment for qualifying pension and retirement plans in the 1920s. These provisions have been expanded and modified many times since then. Among the tax exemptions that apply to traditional "defined benefit" pension plans are the deduction of pension contributions from employer income, exclusion of employer contributions to pension plans from employee income, and tax exemption of the earnings of pension trusts. 8 In "defined contribution" plans such as those authorized under section 401(k) of the tax code, income taxes are deferred until retirement on employer and employee contributions to the plan and on the investment earnings of the plan.
[11] By establishing the tax-favored status of pension programs and defining the terms under which tax exemptions and deductions are granted, federal tax law has both encouraged the growth of pension coverage among workers and shaped the development of pension and retirement savings plans. Congress also has sought to protect the pension benefits earned by workers through direct regulation of pension plans, most notably through the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (P.L. 93-406). ERISA, too, may have influenced the development of employer-sponsored retirement plans. Since its enactment, defined contribution (DC) plans have proliferated while the number of defined benefit (DB) plans has been falling.
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TWO KINDS OF RETIREMENT PLANS: DEFINED BENEFIT AND DEFINED
CONTRIBUTION
Retirement programs are legally classified as either
DEFINED BENEFIT plans or DEFINED CONTRIBUTION plans. In DEFINED
BENEFIT or "DB" plans, the retirement benefit usually is based
on an employee's salary and number of years of service. With
each year of service, a worker accrues a benefit equal to either
a fixed dollar amount per month or year of service or a
percentage of his or her final pay or average pay.
A DEFINED CONTRIBUTION or "DC" plan is much like a savings
account maintained by the employer on behalf of each
participating employee. The employer contributes a specific
dollar amount or percentage of pay into the account, which is
usually invested in stocks and bonds. In some plans, the size of
the employer's contribution depends on the amount the employee
contributes to the plan. When the worker retires, the amount of
retirement benefits that he or she receives will depend on the
balance in the account, which is the sum of all the
contributions that have been made plus interest, dividends, and
capital gains (or losses). The worker usually has the choice of
receiving these funds in the form of a life-long annuity, 9 as
a series of fixed payments over a period of years, or as a lump
sum.
In recent years, many employers have converted their
traditional pensions to HYBRID PLANS that have characteristics of
both DB and DC plans. The most popular of these hybrids has been
the CASH BALANCE PLAN. A cash balance plan looks like a DC plan
in that the accrued benefit is defined in terms of an account
balance. The employer makes contributions to the plan and pays
interest on the accumulated balance. However, in a cash balance
plan, the account balances are merely bookkeeping devices. They
are not INDIVIDUAL ACCOUNTS that are OWNED BY THE PARTICIPANTS.
Legally, therefore, a cash balance plan is a defined benefit
plan.
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[12] THE LOCUS OF RISK IN DB AND DC PLANS. In a defined benefit plan,it is the EMPLOYER who bears the financial risk of the plan, while in a defined contribution plan it is the EMPLOYEE who bears the financial risk. In a defined benefit plan, the employer promises to provide retirement benefits equal to a certain dollar amount or a specific percentage of the employee's pay. The employer contributes to a pension trust that is invested in stocks, bonds, real estate, or other assets. Retirement benefits are paid from this trust fund. The employer is AT RISK for the amount of retirement benefits that have been promised to employees and their survivors. If there are insufficient funds in the pension trust to pay the accrued benefits, the firm that sponsors the pension plan is legally obligated to make up the difference by paying more money into the pension fund.
[13] In a DEFINED CONTRIBUTION plan, the employer bears no risk beyond its obligation to make contributions to each employee's retirement account from the firm's current revenue. In these plans, it is the EMPLOYEE who bears the risk that his or her retirement account will increase in value by an amount sufficient to provide adequate income during retirement. If the contributions made to the account by the employer and the employee are insufficient, or if the securities in which the account is invested lose value or increase in value too slowly, the employee risks having an income in retirement that is not sufficient to maintain his or her desired standard of living. If this situation occurs, the worker might choose to delay retirement.
[14] PENSION COVERAGE IS HIGH IN MEDIUM AND LARGE FIRMS . . . According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), 79% of full-time employees in medium and large private establishments participated in an employer-sponsored retirement plan in 1997. 10 Data collected by the Bureau of the Census indicate slightly lower rates of pension coverage. In the Census Bureau's Current Population Survey (CPS), 71% of employees aged 25 to 64 who worked year-round, full-time at private-sector firms with 100 or more employees reported that they participated in an employer-sponsored pension or retirement savings plan in 1999. 11
. . . BUT REMAINS LOW IN SMALL FIRMS. Among small employers,both employer sponsorship and employee participation in retirement plans have lagged behind the rates achieved among medium and large firms. In the 1990s, pension participation in small firms has been less than half the rate of participation among workers in larger firms. The BLS' biennial survey of small employers showed that 35% of full-time workers in independently-owned firms with fewer than 100 employees participated in a pension or retirement savings plan in 1990. The participation rate remained steady at 34% to 35% from 1990 through 1994. In the 1996 BLS survey, 42% of full-time employees in small, independently-owned businesses were participants in employer- sponsored retirement plans. Although this rate of participation is low relative to that of large businesses, it represents an increase of nearly 2 million in the number of workers in small firms who were participants in a pension or retirement savings plan in 1996 compared to 1994.
[15] Many factors affect a firm's decision to sponsor a retirement plan and a worker's decision to participate in the plan. In any given year, changes in the business climate -- inflation, interest rates, wage increases, the cost of other benefits (such as health insurance), trends in business revenues and profits -- could weigh more heavily in a firm's decision to sponsor an employee retirement plan than the potential tax advantages it could gain by establishing a plan. Likewise, an employee's decisions to participate or not to participate in a retirement plan may be affected by such variables as the rate of growth of wages, the rising cost of employee health insurance premiums, his or her confidence in the financial status of Social Security, and whether another family member already has pension coverage.
[16] In a recent survey, small employers most frequently cited uncertainty about future revenues and the expense of employer contributions as the reasons that they did not offer either a traditional pension or other employer-sponsored retirement plan. Small employers also cited a preference among employees for higher wages and large numbers of part-time or temporary workers as reasons that they chose not to sponsor a retirement plan. 12 In the 2000 Small Employer Retirement Survey, jointly sponsored by the Employee Benefit Research Institute and the American Savings Education Council, 45% of small employers that did not offer a pension plan said that uncertainty of revenue was a major reason, and 43% cited the cost of employer contributions. Forty percent of small employers said that high-employee turnover was a major reason for having no retirement plan, while 38% cited their employees' preference for higher wages or other benefits. In contrast, 33% cited the administrative burden of providing a pension as a major reason for not offering a retirement plan, and only 24% said that government regulations were a significant reason that they did not offer a retirement plan.
[17] Pension coverage in small firms is an important issue to the Congress in part because of the large number of people employed by small businesses. In 1999, for example, 31 million people were employed at firms with fewer than 25 employees. 13 The relatively low rates of employer sponsorship and employee participation in retirement plans at small businesses have prompted Congress to look for ways to make it easier for small employers to establish and maintain retirement plans for their employees. Because small employers may be reluctant to take on the financial risk and administrative burden of establishing a defined-benefit pension plan, Congress has sought to encourage greater pension coverage among small businesses mainly by easing the financial and reporting requirements associated with certain types of defined contribution pension plans. The Revenue Act of 1978 (P.L. 95-600) authorized a defined contribution plan called the Simplified Employee Pension (SEP) for firms with fewer than 100 employees. 14 More recently, the Small Business Job Protection Act of 1996 (P.L. 104-188) authorized another type of defined contribution plan called Savings Incentive Match Plans for Employees of Small Employers (SIMPLE). 15 The data collected by BLS and the Bureau of the Census over the next few years should help to reveal the degree to which recent policy changes such as SIMPLE have met the needs of small employers for establishing employee retirement plans and the extent to which further efforts -- whether in the form of technical assistance to employers, employee education, or further financial inducements to both -- may be needed to promote pension coverage among workers in small businesses.
[18] THE NUMBER OF DEFINED BENEFIT PLANS IS DECLINING. According to the Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration (PWBA) of the U.S. Department of Labor, the number of defined benefit plans declined from 175,000 to 63,700 between 1983 and 1996. 16 The decline in the number of DB plans resulted mainly from the termination of a large number of small plans. Between 1983 and 1996, the number of defined benefit pension plans with fewer than 100 participants fell from 149,164 to 47,104, a decline of 68.4%. The number of large DB plans fell, too, declining form 25,979 in 1983 to 16,553, or 36.3%. However, while the decline in the number of plans was larger among small plans, the decline in the number of participants was greater among large plans. The number of active participants in small DB plans fell from 1,861,000 in 1983 to 707,000 in 1995. 17 At the same time, the number of active participants in large DB plans fell from 28,104,000 to 22,546,000.
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SOURCES OF DATA ON PENSION COVERAGE
The main sources of data on which this report is based are
the Employee Benefits Survey (EBS), conducted by the U.S. Bureau
of Labor Statistics and the Current Population Survey (CPS),
which is administered by the Bureau of the Census. The EBS is a
survey of BUSINESS ESTABLISHMENTS. It is an element of the
National Compensation Survey, which also produces the Employment
Cost Index (ECI). The ECI is a measure of the cost of employee
compensation across industries that includes both cash and in-
kind compensation. Data from the ECI are widely used among
financial analysts and economists in both government and the
private sector, and it has been designated in federal statute as
the basis for computing annual wage adjustments for civilian
federal employees and military personnel.
The CPS is conducted each month by the Bureau of the Census
among a random sample of approximately 50,000 households, mainly
to collect information about labor force participation needed to
estimate the national unemployment rate. Each March,
supplemental questions are asked about household economic and
demographic characteristics and about income and employment
during the previous year. The questions about employment include
two questions about pension coverage and participation during
the previous year. Respondents are asked whether ANY employer
for whom they worked had a pension or other type of retirement
plan for any of its employees. Respondents who answer "yes" to
this question are asked whether they were included in the plan.
The data collected in the annual March supplement to the CPS are
especially useful for policy analysis because of the large
sample size, the breadth of topics covered, and the timeliness
of the data.
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SIMPLIFIED DEFINED BENEFIT PLANS FOR SMALL EMPLOYERS: THE "SAFE" AND "SMART" PROPOSALS
[19] A report issued by the PWBA in 1997 identified several reasons for the decline of DB plans among small employers, including aspects of tax treatment, funding requirements, and reporting procedures, some of which can be modified only through congressional action. The working group organized by the PWBA recommended that "the Secretary of Labor support legislative and regulatory changes that will restore the viability of defined benefit plans." Among the simplified defined benefit plans introduced in the 106th Congress are the Secure Assets For Employees (SAFE) plan, introduced as H.R. 2190 (Nancy Johnson), and the Secure Money Annuity or Retirement Trust (SMART), which has been introduced as part of Title IV of S. 8 (Daschle), H.R. 1213 (Neal), and H.R. 1590 (Gejdenson).
[20] As proposed in H.R. 2190, SAFE plans could be established by any employer with fewer than 100 employees that does not already have a qualified retirement plan. SAFE plans would be required to be fully funded at all times, but they would be exempted from paying premiums to the PBGC and would be subject to minimal reporting requirements and simplified actuarial valuation. SAFE plans would guarantee a minimum benefit equal to 1%, 2%, or 3% of pay for each year of service, and would pay higher benefits if the plan's assets grow to exceed the amount needed to pay the minimum benefit. Employees would be fully vested immediately in their retirement benefit, which would be funded either through an individual annuity or a trust. Separating employees could transfer benefit credits to another employer's SAFE plan or to an individual retirement account (IRA). A 20% excise tax would be levied on early withdrawals. A maximum of $160,000 in annual compensation (indexed to inflation) could be used to determine plan contributions and benefits, but SAFE plans would not be subject either to the "non-discrimination tests" or the "top-heavy" rules that apply to other defined benefit pension plans. 18 Initially, employers could make retroactive contributions that would be based on a "look-back" period of 10 years.
[21] SMART plans, too, would allow employer contributions ranging from 1% to 3% of salary and require full and immediate employee vesting. SMART plans also could pay benefits in excess of the minimum guaranteed level if investment returns exceeded the gains necessary to fund the guaranteed benefit. SMART plans would allow employees who leave their employer to purchase an annuity or to roll over the accumulated value of their benefits into an IRA or another employer-sponsored plan. The maximum annual compensation that could be taken into account for determining contributions or benefits would be $100,000, indexed to inflation. Benefits from a SMART plan would be paid monthly as a life annuity to the employee or in an actuarially equivalent form (such as a joint and survivor annuity for the employee and his or her spouse). Unlike SAFE, SMART plans would be required to pay insurance premiums to the PBGC, but at lower rates than other defined benefit pension plans. Retroactive contributions to SMART plans would not be allowed.
RECENT TRENDS IN COVERAGE BY EMPLOYER-SPONSORED PENSION PLANS
[22] Surveys of both households and business establishments indicate that retirement plan coverage among employees of small firms rose during the 1990s. Pension coverage in medium and large firms has remained steady, but it began the decade at a much higher level than in small firms. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the proportion of full-time employees in independently-owned businesses with fewer than 100 workers who were participating in an employer- sponsored retirement plan rose from 35% in 1990 to 42% in 1996. Among businesses with 100 or more employees, the proportion of workers participating in employer-sponsored retirement plans was 78% in 1991 and 79% in 1997. The Census Bureau's Current Population Survey (CPS) shows a similar trend. The CPS data indicate that in firms with fewer than 100 employees, the proportion of year-round, full-time workers between the ages of 25 and 64 who participated in an employer- sponsored retirement plan rose from 30% in 1990 to 37% in 1999. CPS data indicate that among workers employed at firms with 100 or more employees, 71% participated in a retirement plan in 1999 compared to 70% in 1990.
DATA COLLECTED FROM EMPLOYERS
[23] MEDIUM AND LARGE FIRMS. The Bureau of Labor Statistics conducts annual surveys of employers to gather information about paid leave, health insurance, pension coverage, flexible spending accounts, and other employee benefits. In odd-numbered years, the BLS surveys establishments with fewer than 100 employees, and in even-numbered years the agency surveys medium and large employers, defined as those with 100 or more employees. Table 1 presents results from the survey of medium and large establishments. In each year of the survey, four out of five full-time workers in medium and large firms participated in an employer-sponsored pension or retirement savings plan. Although the rate of participation has changed very little during the 1990s, there has been a notable shift in participation away from DEFINED BENEFIT plans toward DEFINED CONTRIBUTION plans. In 1997, 50% of employees in medium and large firms were covered by a DB plan, down from 59% in 1991. At the same time, the proportion of full-time workers in these firms who participated in a DC plan rose from 48% to 57%.
TABLE 1. PARTICIPATION IN EMPLOYER-SPONSORED PENSION OR RETIREMENT
SAVINGS PLANS IN MEDIUM AND LARGE PRIVATE ESTABLISHMENTS
(Full-time employees in establishments with 100 or more workers)
______________________________________________________________________
All retirement Defined benefit Defined contribution
Year plans /*/ plans plans
______________________________________________________________________
1991 78% 59% 48%
1993 78% 56% 49%
1995 80% 52% 55%
1997 79% 50% 57%
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Source: U.S. Department of Labor. Employee Benefits in Medium and
Large Private Establishments, Washington DC, various years.
/*/ Includes defined benefit and defined contribution plans. Some employees participate in both types but are counted only once in "all retirement plans."
END OF FOOTNOTE TO TABLE 1
[24] SMALL FIRMS. Results of the BLS survey of independent business establishments with fewer than 100 employees are displayed in TABLE 2. The data show an increase in coverage by employer- sponsored retirement plans from 35% in 1990 to 42% in 1996. The data also show a trend toward defined contribution plans similar to that observed among medium and large businesses. The proportion of full- time workers in small establishments who participated in a DB plan fell from 12% to 10% during this period, while participation in DC plans rose from 28% to 35%. Some employees are covered by both a defined benefit plan and a defined contribution plan through the same employer. With only 10% of employees participating in a DB plan, however, most workers in small businesses who participate in a retirement plan are covered only by a DC plan.
[25] The data collected by BLS indicate that the rising rate of retirement plan coverage among employees of small businesses coincided with the growth of defined contribution plans (of which SEP and SIMPLE are two examples) and the relative decline in defined benefit plans. The data also indicate, however, that little of the increase in retirement plan coverage has been a result of employers who otherwise would not have sponsored a retirement plan adopting a SEP. In both 1990 and 1996, only about 1% of full-time employees in small private establishments participated in a SEP. Results of another recent survey of small employers shed some light on why SEP and SIMPLE have not yet had much impact on the extent of retirement plan coverage in small firms. According to the 2000 Small Employer Retirement Survey, sponsored by the Employee Benefit Research Institute and the American Savings Education Council, 33% of small employers had never heard of SIMPLE plans and another 19% said that they were "not too familiar" with these plans. Fifty-four percent were unaware of the availability of SEPs, while another 16% said that they had heard of SEPs but knew little about them. The low level of awareness about SIMPLE and SEP plans among small employers points to the possibility that outreach and education efforts by government agencies and the private financial institutions could lead to higher rates of pension coverage in small firms.
TABLE 2. PARTICIPATION IN EMPLOYER-SPONSORED PENSION OR RETIREMENT
SAVINGS PLANS IN SMALL, INDEPENDENTLY-OWNED BUSINESSES
(Full-time employees in independent establishments with under 100
workers)
______________________________________________________________________
All retirement Defined benefit Defined contribution
Year plans /*/ plans plans
______________________________________________________________________
1990 35% 12% 28%
1992 34% 12% 27%
1994 35% 9% 29%
1996 42% 10% 35%
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Source: U.S. Department of Labor. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Employee Benefits in Small Private Establishments, Washington
DC, various years.
/*/ Includes defined benefit and defined contribution plans. Some employees participate in both types but are counted only once in "all retirement plans."
END OF FOOTNOTE TO TABLE 2
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DISTINGUISHING BETWEEN "ESTABLISHMENTS" AND "FIRMS"
The term ESTABLISHMENT usually refers to a single place of
business at a particular location or all branches of a business
in a particular metropolitan area or county. A FIRM comprises
ALL of the establishments that together form a particular
corporation, partnership, or other business entity.
The EMPLOYEE BENEFITS SURVEY is conducted among a
nationally representative sample of business establishments. As
defined by the BLS, an establishment might be a branch or small
operating unit of a larger firm. BLS also publishes data that
pertain exclusively to SMALL INDEPENDENT BUSINESSES, which
include only independently-owned small private establishments.
Small independent businesses account for about three-fourths of
the employees covered by the BLS survey of small establishments.
The BLS data presented in this CRS Report reflect pension
coverage in small independently-owned businesses.
In the CURRENT POPULATION SURVEY, employer characteristics
are reported at the level of the FIRM, which may include more
than one establishment.
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[26] PENSION PLAN FINANCIAL TRENDS. Financial information reported by employers to the U.S. Department of Labor also shows the extent to which pension coverage has shifted from DB plans to DC plans. In 1975, pension plans held total assets of $260 billion, of which 72% ($186 billion) was held by defined benefit plans. By 1996, pension plans held total assets of $3.1 TRILLION, but the share held by DB plans had fallen to 51% ($1.6 trillion). Contributions to pension plans shifted even more dramatically during this period. In 1975, employer and employee contributions to pension plans totaled $37 billion. Of this amount, 65% ($24 billion) was contributed to DB plans. In 1996, employers and employees contributed $170 billion to pension plans, but 79% of the total ($134 billion) was contributed to DEFINED CONTRIBUTION plans. Benefit payments, too, reflected the impact of the increasing popularity of DC plans. In 1975, 68% of all benefits paid by private-sector pension plans ($13 billion out of $19 billion) were paid by defined benefit pensions. In 1996, 55% of the $213 billion in benefit payments were disbursed from DC plans. In that year, DC plans paid $116 billion in benefits, while DB plans paid out $97 billion in benefits.
DATA COLLECTED FROM HOUSEHOLDS
[27] The CURRENT POPULATION SURVEY is conducted each month by the Bureau of the Census among a nationally representative sample of approximately 50,000 households, primarily for the purpose of estimating the rates of employment and unemployment. Each March, supplemental questions are asked about employment, income, health insurance, pension coverage, and receipt of government benefits during the previous calendar year. The responses to the CPS confirm that pension participation in small firms rose steadily throughout the 1990s, as was indicated by the BLS surveys of employers. The CPS data also confirm that pension coverage remains lower in small firms than in firms with 100 or more employees.
[28] PENSION PARTICIPATION BY SIZE OF EMPLOYER. The data displayed in Table 3 show that from 1990 to 1999, the number of workers between the ages of 25 and 64 who were employed year-round, full-time increased from 53 million to 67 million. At the same time, the number of such workers whose employer offered a pension or retirement savings plan increased from 33.3 million to 44.8 million. Thus, the proportion of year-round, full-time workers in this age group who were employed at a firm offering a retirement plan rose from 63% to 67%. Most of the increase in pension sponsorship during this period occurred among firms with fewer than 100 employees. In 1999, 33% of full-time workers in businesses with fewer than 25 employees were employed at firms with pensions or retirement savings plans, compared to 25% in 1990. Among workers in firms with 25 to 99 employees, 59% were employed at firms that sponsored retirement plans in 1999, compared to 49.5% in 1990. Nevertheless, in 1999 workers in small businesses were much less likely than employees of large firms to work for an employer that sponsored a pension or retirement savings plan. Among employees at businesses with 100 or more workers, 80% worked for a firm that sponsored a pension or retirement savings plan in 1990 and 81% worked at such firms in 1999.
[29] TABLE 3 also shows the percentage of year-round, full-time employees who PARTICIPATED in an employer-sponsored pension or retirement savings plan. 19 This statistic takes into account the impact of employers that do not sponsor a plan on overall pension participation rates. Among firms of all sizes, the proportion of year-round, full-time employees between the ages of 25 and 64 who participated in a pension or retirement savings plan increased from 55% in 1990 to 58% in 1999. Participation among workers in firms with 100 or more employees rose by only one percentage point from 70% to 71%. Pension participation rose more substantially among those who worked in small firms. In firms with 25 to 99 employees, participation in pensions and retirement savings plans rose from 42% to 50%, while in firms with fewer than 25 workers, participation rose from 22% to 29%.
TABLE 3. PARTICIPATION IN RETIREMENT PLANS BY SIZE OF FIRM
(Numbers in thousands)
_____________________________________________________________________
Employer
Size Number sponsors plan Employees participating
of firm of _________________ _____________________
(Employees) workers Workers Percent Participants Percent
_____________________________________________________________________
All firms
1990 53,026 33,323 62.8% 28,955 54.6%
1991 52,954 33,541 63.3% 29,294 55.3%
1992 53,768 34,209 63.6% 29,676 55.2%
1993 54,954 34,092 62.0% 29,636 53.9%
1994 57,156 37,080 64.9% 32,043 56.1%
1995 60,687 38,348 63.2% 33,298 54.9%
1996 63,145 41,149 65.2% 35,535 56.3%
1997 64,001 41,855 65.4% 36,184 56.5%
1998 65,931 44,095 66.9% 38,092 57.8%
1999 67,065 44,794 66.8% 38,901 58.0%
Under 25
1990 12,119 3,042 25.1% 2,619 21.6%
1991 11,705 3,160 27.0% 2,740 23.4%
1992 11,942 3,181 26.6% 2,696 22.6%
1993 12,555 3,134 25.0% 2,688 21.4%
1994 13,120 3,479 26.5% 2,996 22.8%
1995 14,627 3,715 25.4% 3,109 21.3%
1996 15,343 4,365 28.5% 3,713 24.2%
1997 14,732 4,356 29.6% 3,722 25.3%
1998 15,101 4,789 31.7% 4,072 27.0%
1999 15,582 5,259 33.4% 4,522 29.0%
25 to 99
1990 7,892 3,904 49.5% 3,291 41.7%
1991 8,010 3,972 49.6% 3,383 42.2%
1992 8,416 4,146 49.3% 3,556 42.3%
1993 8,217 3,967 48.3% 3,374 41.1%
1994 8,476 4,526 53.4% 3,805 44.9%
1995 9,108 4,923 54.1% 4,188 46.0%
1996 9,421 5,378 57.1% 4,531 48.1%
1997 9,691 5,416 55.9% 4,602 47.5%
1998 9,940 5,794 58.3% 4,838 48.7%
1999 9,974 5,881 59.0% 4,933 49.5%
100 or more
1990 33,014 26,378 79.9% 23,045 69.8%
1991 33,239 26,409 79.5% 23,171 69.7%
1992 33,411 26,882 80.5% 23,424 70.1%
1993 34,182 26,990 79.0% 23,574 69.0%
1994 35,560 29,075 81.8% 25,242 71.0%
1995 36,951 29,706 80.4% 26,000 70.4%
1996 38,381 31,407 81.8% 27,291 71.1%
1997 39,578 32,083 81.1% 27,860 70.4%
1998 40,890 33,513 82.0% 29,182 71.4%
1999 41,509 33,654 81.1% 29,447 70.9%
_____________________________________________________________________
Source: CRS analysis of the Current Population Survey, various years.
Note: Private-sector non-agricultural workers, ages 25 to 64,
employed year-round, full-time.
[30] PENSION PARTICIPATION BY EMPLOYEE GENDER. Table 4 shows the rates of participation in pension and retirement savings plans by men and women ages 25 to 64 who were employed year-round, full-time. Between 1990 and 1999, the proportion of men whose employer sponsored a pension or retirement savings plan rose from 63% to 67%. At the same time, the proportion of women who worked at firms that sponsored pensions or retirement savings plans increased from 62% to almost 67%. Thus by 1999, women who were employed year-round, full-time were just as likely than their male counterparts to work for an employer that sponsored a retirement plan of some kind. Women, however, were less slightly likely than men to PARTICIPATE in these plans. In 1999, 59% of men who were employed year-round, full-time participated in a pension or retirement savings plan, compared to 56% of women who worked year-round, full-time.
TABLE 4. PARTICIPATION IN RETIREMENT PLANS BY EMPLOYEE GENDER
(Numbers in thousands)
_____________________________________________________________________
Employer
Number sponsors plan Employees participating
of _________________ _____________________
workers Workers Percent Participants Percent
_____________________________________________________________________
Men
1990 32,208 20,389 63.3% 18,242 56.6%
1991 31,556 20,296 64.3% 18,183 57.6%
1992 32,001 20,535 64.2% 18,152 56.7%
1993 32,867 20,360 62.0% 18,055 54.9%
1994 34,329 22,265 64.9% 19,617 57.1%
1995 36,504 23,008 63.0% 20,359 55.8%
1996 37,912 24,541 64.7% 21,577 56.9%
1997 38,207 24,796 64.9% 21,887 57.3%
1998 39,399 26,270 66.7% 23,160 58.8%
1999 39,757 26,596 66.9% 23,553 59.2%
Women
1990 20,817 12,934 62.1% 10,713 51.5%
1991 21,398 13,245 61.9% 11,111 51.9%
1992 21,767 13,675 62.8% 11,524 52.9%
1993 22,087 13,732 62.2% 11,581 52.4%
1994 22,827 14,815 64.9% 12,426 54.4%
1995 24,182 15,336 63.4% 12,939 53.5%
1996 25,232 16,609 65.8% 13,958 55.3%
1997 25,795 17,060 66.1% 14,297 55.4%
1998 26,532 17,825 67.2% 14,932 56.3%
1999 27,308 18,198 66.6% 15,349 56.2%
_____________________________________________________________________
Source: CRS analysis of the Current Population Survey, various years.
Note: Private-sector non-agricultural workers, ages 25 to 64,
employed year-round, full-time.
[31] PENSION PARTICIPATION BY EMPLOYEE AGE. Table 5 displays rates of participation in pension and retirement savings plans among year-round, full-time workers in four age categories. In 1990, young workers -- ages 25 to 34 -- were less likely than middle-aged and older workers to be employed at a firm that sponsored a pension or retirement savings plan. However, between 1990 and 1990 the proportion of young workers who were employed at firms that sponsored a pension or retirement savings plan increased from 59% to 64%. By 1999, the percentage of year-round, full-time workers whose employer sponsored a pension or retirement savings plan differed relatively little among employees of various ages, ranging from 64% among those 25 to 34 years old 70% among those 45 to 54 years old.
[32] Pension PARTICIPATION varies more by age than does the likelihood of working for an employer that SPONSORS a pension or retirement savings plan. Pension participation generally rises with employee age, although it is lower for workers 55 or older than among those 45 to 54 years old. In 1999, 51% of workers 25 to 34 years old participated in a retirement plan, compared with 59% of those who were 35 to 44 years old and 64% of those who were 45 to 54 years old. Among year-round, full-time workers between the ages of 55 and 64, 60% participated in a pension or retirement savings plan in 1999.
TABLE 5. PARTICIPATION IN RETIREMENT PLANS BY EMPLOYEE AGE
(Numbers in thousands)
_____________________________________________________________________
Employer
Number sponsors plan Employees participating
Employee of _________________ _____________________
age workers Workers Percent Participants Percent
_____________________________________________________________________
25 to 34
1990 19,344 11,489 59.4% 9,135 47.2%
1991 18,865 11,238 59.6% 9,095 48.2%
1992 18,559 11,127 60.0% 8,848 47.7%
1993 18,748 10,862 57.9% 8,746 46.7%
1994 19,488 12,038 61.8% 9,460 48.5%
1995 19,759 11,673 59.1% 9,337 47.3%
1996 19,744 12,389 62.8% 9,865 50.0%
1997 19,829 12,508 63.1% 9,832 49.6%
1998 19,737 12,455 63.1% 9,896 50.1%
1999 19,535 12,513 64.1% 9,903 50.7%
35 to 44
1990 16,989 11,042 65.0% 9,871 58.1%
1991 17,261 11,109 64.4% 9,823 56.9%
1992 17,565 11,584 66.0% 10,234 58.3%
1993 18,203 11,614 63.8% 10,265 56.4%
1994 18,924 12,492 66.0% 11,082 58.6%
1995 20,439 13,235 64.8% 11,742 57.5%
1996 21,360 14,161 66.3% 12,337 57.8%
1997 21,528 14,120 65.6% 12,377 57.5%
1998 22,287 15,125 67.9% 13,211 59.3%
1999 22,812 15,387 67.5% 13,440 58.9%
45 to 54
1990 10,922 7,148 65.5% 6,586 60.3%
1991 11,226 7,571 67.4% 7,019 62.5%
1992 11,765 7,782 662% 7,175 61.0%
1993 12,497 8,146 65.2% 7,441 59.6%
1994 12,973 8,839 68.1% 8,117 62.6%
1995 14,042 9,240 65.8% 8,381 59.7%
1996 15,278 10,259 67.2% 9,290 60.8%
1997 15,576 10,638 68.3% 9,760 62.7%
1998 16,547 11,615 70.2% 10,519 63.6%
1999 17,238 12,053 69.9% 11,089 64.3%
55 to 64
1990 5,771 3,644 63.1% 3,363 58.3%
1991 5,602 3,623 64.7% 3,358 59.9%
1992 5,879 3,717 63.2% 3,419 58.2%
1993 5,506 3,470 63.0% 3,183 57.8%
1994 5,771 3,711 64.3% 3,384 58.7%
1995 6,446 4,196 65.1% 3,838 59.5%
1996 6,763 4,340 64.2% 4,043 59.8%
1997 7,069 4,588 64.9% 4,215 59.6%
1998 7,359 4,900 66.6% 4,466 60.7%
1999 7,479 4,841 64.7% 4,470 59.8%
_____________________________________________________________________
Source: CRS analysis of the Current Population Survey, various years.
Note: Private-sector non-agricultural workers, ages 25 to 64,
employed year-round, full-time.
[33] EMPLOYEE PENSION PARTICIPATION BY RACE. Race is classified on the CPS as white, black, American Indian/Eskimo, or Asia/Pacific Islander. Ethnic origin (Hispanic, for example), is identified separately from race. Between 1990 and 1999, black workers experienced a smaller increase in the likelihood of being employed at a firm that sponsored a retirement plan than either white workers or those of other races. (See Table 6). Moreover, the proportion of black workers who PARTICIPATED in a retirement plan remained unchanged at 52%. Among white workers, the proportion who participated in a retirement plan increased from 55% to 59%, while among workers whose race was classified as "other," mainly (Native American or Asian), participation increased from 46% to 51%.
TABLE 6. PARTICIPATION IN RETIREMENT PLANS BY EMPLOYEE RACE
(Numbers in thousands)
______________________________________________________________________
Employer sponsors
Number plan Employees participating
Employee of ____________________ ________________________
Race workers Workers Percent Participants Percent
______________________________________________________________________
White
1990 46,012 29,124 63.3% 25,449 55.3%
1991 45,910 29,354 63.9% 25,816 56.2%
1992 46,582 29,815 64.0% 26,111 56.1%
1993 47,125 29,805 63.3% 26,073 55.3%
1994 48,748 31,976 65.6% 27,864 57.2%
1995 51,745 32,953 63.7% 28,778 55.6%
1996 53,619 35,340 65.9% 30,738 57.3%
1997 53,941 35,714 66.2% 31,085 57.6%
1998 55,495 37,565 67.7% 32,720 59.0%
1999 56,082 37,954 67.7% 33,246 59.3%
Black
1990 5,109 3,152 61.7% 2,638 51.6%
1991 5,099 3,128 61.3% 2,623 51.4%
1992 5,146 3,210 62.4% 2,566 49.9%
1993 5,435 3,045 56.0% 2,478 45.6%
1994 5,890 3,699 62.8% 3,003 51.0%
1995 6,305 3,950 62.7% 3,314 52.6%
1996 6,602 4,105 62,2% 3,324 50.4%
1997 6,954 4,315 62.1% 3,535 50.8%
1998 7,258 4,565 62.9% 3,689 50.8%
1999 7,613 4,820 63.3% 3,928 51.6%
Other
1990 1,904 1,047 55.0% 868 45.6%
1991 1,945 1,060 54.5% 852 43.8%
1992 2,041 1,184 58.0% 1,000 49.0%
1993 2,394 1,242 51.9% 1,084 45.3%
1994 2,518 1,405 55.8% 1,176 46.7%
1995 2,637 1,441 54.6% 1,205 45.7%
1996 2,923 1,704 58.3% 1,473 50.4%
1997 3,107 1,827 58.8% 1,564 50.3%
1998 3,177 1,965 61.9% 1,684 53.0%
1999 3,370 2,020 59.9% 1,727 51.3%
______________________________________________________________________
Source: CRS analysis of the Current Population Survey, various years.
Note: Civilian non-agricultural workers, ages 25 to 64, employed
year-round, full-time.
[34] PENSION PARTICIPATION BY EMPLOYEE EARNINGS. TABLE 7 shows the relationship between earnings and participation in employer- sponsored pension and retirement savings plans. All earnings in Table 7 have been indexed to 1999 dollars based on the annual percentage changes in the wage and salary component of the Employment Cost Index. Between 1990 and 1999, wages and salaries rose at an average annual rate of 3.3%.
[35] In 1990, only 37.4% of year-round, full-time workers with annual earnings of less than $20,000 were employed by a firm that sponsored a retirement plan. By 1999, the percentage of low-wage workers who were employed at a firm that sponsored a retirement plan had risen to 42.6%. The percentage of workers who earned between $20,000 and $40,000 who were employed at firms that sponsored retirement plans also rose during this time, rising from 62% in 1990 to 67% in 1999. Workers earning more than $40,000 per year were more likely than those earning less than $40,000 to be employed by firms that sponsored retirement plans, although the percentage increase in sponsorship between 1990 and 1999 was smaller than among workers earning less than $40,000. In 1999, 78% of workers with annual earnings between $40,000 and $60,000 were employed at firms that sponsored pensions or retirement savings plans, as were 80% of employees whose annual earnings exceeded $60,000.
[36] Across all firms (including those that did not sponsor any kind of retirement plan), only 29% of full-time workers who earned less than $20,000 participated in an employer-sponsored retirement plan in 1999. Although participation was significantly higher among full-time workers who earned between $20,000 and $40,000 (57%) than among those earning less than $20,000, it still lagged behind the participation rates of higher-paid employees. Among those who earned between $40,000 and 60,000, 72% participated in an employer-sponsored retirement plan in 1999, as did 76% of those who earned more than $60,000.
[37] Some, but not all, of the lower participation rate among low-wage workers can be explained by the lower rate of pension sponsorship among the firms at which they are employed. For example, in 1999 78% percent of workers with annual earnings of $40,000 to $60,000 were employed at firms that sponsored a pension or retirement savings plan and 72% of employees with earnings in this range participated in such plans. Thus, among employees whose employer sponsored a plan, the participation rate was 92%. (.72/.78 = .923). Likewise, among employees whose earnings in 1999 exceeded $60,000, 80% worked for an employer that sponsored a retirement plan and 76% participated in a retirement plan. Therefore, the participation rate among employees who earned $60,000 or more and whose employer sponsored a retirement plan was 95%. (.76/.80 = .95).
[38] Participation rates were significantly lower among low- wage workers. Among workers whose 1999 earnings were less than $20,000, only 42.6% worked for an employer that sponsored a retirement plan and just 28.8% participated in a retirement plan. Thus the participation rate among low-wage employees whose employer sponsored a retirement plan was 68%. (.288/.426 = .676). Among those who earned $20,000 to $40,000, 67% worked for an employer that sponsored a retirement plan and 57% participated in such a plan, yielding a participation rate of 85% among those whose employer sponsored a retirement plan. (.57/.67 = .85).
TABLE 7. PARTICIPATION IN RETIREMENT PLANS BY ANNUAL EARNINGS
(Numbers in thousands)
______________________________________________________________________
Employer sponsors
Employee Number plan Employees
Annual of __________________ ____________________
Earnings workers Workers Percent Participant Percent
______________________________________________________________________
Under
$20,000
1990 10,011 3,746 37.4% 2,701 27.0%
1991 10,807 3,937 36.4% 2,815 26.1%
1992 10,558 3,954 37.5% 2,693 25.5%
1993 11,709 4,285 36.6% 2,981 25.5%
1994 11,967 5,037 42.1% 3,338 27.9%
1995 13,135 5,310 40.4% 3,742 28.5%
1996 12,649 5,222 41.3% 3,556 28.1%
1997 13,100 5,442 41.6% 3,744 28.6%
1998 13,545 5,966 44.1% 4,079 30.1%
1999 13,237 5,637 42.6% 3,816 28.8%
$20,000-
$39,999
1990 22,034 13,626 61.8% 11,413 51.8%
1991 22,099 14,005 63.4% 11,927 54.0%
1992 22,625 14,255 63.0% 12,052 53.3%
1993 22,656 14,187 62.6% 12,143 53.6%
1994 23,421 15,210 64.9% 12,952 55.3%
1995 24,354 15,461 63.5% 13,110 53.8%
1996 27,250 17,704 65.0% 14,933 54.8%
1997 27,454 18,074 65.8% 15,312 55.8%
1998 27,752 18,773 67.6% 15,915 57.4%
1999 27,752 18,587 67.0% 15,810 57.0%
$40,000-
$59,999
1990 12,279 9,238 75.2% 8,468 69.0%
1991 11,866 9,200 77.5% 8,506 71.7%
1992 11,823 9,169 77.6% 8,461 71.6%
1993 11,582 8,735 75.4% 8,033 69.4%
1994 12,707 9,713 76.4% 8,971 70.6%
1995 13,302 9,917 74.6% 9,183 69.0%
1996 12,860 10,002 77.8% 9,282 72.2%
1997 13,044 10,034 76.9% 9,268 71.1%
1998 13,336 10,374 77.8% 9,595 72.0%
1999 13,755 10,721 77.9% 9,909 72.0%
$60,000
or more
1990 8,701 6,713 77.2% 6,373 73.2%
1991 8,183 6,400 78.2% 6,046 73.9%
1992 8,763 6,832 78.0% 6,471 73.8%
1993 9,006 6,884 76.4% 6,479 71.9%
1994 9,060 7,120 78.6% 6,782 74.9%
1995 9,895 7,655 77.4% 7,263 73.4%
1996 10,385 8,221 79.2% 7,763 74.8%
1997 10,404 8,305 79.8% 7,860 75.6%
1998 11,297 8,982 79.5% 8,503 75.3%
1999 12,321 9,849 79.9% 9,366 76.0%
______________________________________________________________________
Source: CRS analysis of the Current Population Survey, various years.
Note: Private-sector non-agricultural workers, ages 25 to 64,
employed year-round, full-time. Annual earnings have been
adjusted to 1999 dollars based on the wage component of the
ECI.
[39] PENSION PARTICIPATION BY FULL-TIME VS. PART-TIME EMPLOYMENT. TABLE 8 compares pension coverage statistics for year- round, full-time workers to those of workers who were employed part- year or part-time. Workers with part-year or part-time employment are much less likely to be employed by a firm that sponsors a retirement plan. Part-time and part-year workers also are less likely to participate if their employer sponsors a plan.
[40] Between 1990 and 1999, the proportion of part-time or part-year workers employed by firms that sponsored a pension or retirement savings plan rose from 37.4% to 42.0%. The rate of participation among part-year and part-time workers whose employer sponsored a retirement plan increased from 22.3% to 25.5%. In both 1990 and 1990, approximately 60% of part-time or part-year workers whose employers sponsored a retirement plan participated in the plan. 20 The proportion of year-round, full-time workers employed at firms that sponsored a pension or retirement savings plan rose from 63% in 1990 to 67% in 1999. The participation rate among year-round, full-time workers whose employer sponsored a retirement plan increased from 54.6% in 1990 to 58.0% in 1999.
[41] The lower rate of pension coverage among part-year and part-time workers is one of the reasons that women are less likely than men to be covered by a pension or retirement savings plan. As was shown in Table 4, there is little difference in pension participation between men and women who work YEAR-ROUND, FULL-TIME. Women, however, are more likely than men to work part-year or part- time. Data from the Current Population Survey show that in 1999, 84% of working men between the ages of 25 and 64 were employed year- round, full-time compared to 66% of working women in this age-group. Consequently, while women who worked FULL-TIME in 1999 were almost as likely as their male counterparts to have participated in a retirement plan (56% vs. 59%), the pension participation rate among ALL women 25 to 64 years old who worked in the private sector was significantly lower in 1999 (46%) than the pension participation rate among all working men in that age group (54%). 21
TABLE 8. PARTICIPATION IN PENSION OR RETIREMENT SAVINGS PLANS
BY FULL-TIME VS. PART-TIME EMPLOYMENT
______________________________________________________________________
Employer sponsors
Number plan Employees participating
of ___________________ _______________________
workers Workers Percent Participants Percent
______________________________________________________________________
Full-time
1990 53,026 33,323 62.8% 28,955 54.6%
1991 52,954 33,541 63.3% 29,294 55.3%
1992 53,768 34,209 63.6% 29,676 55.2%
1993 54,954 34,092 62.0% 29,636 54.0%
1994 57,156 37,080 64.9% 32,043 56.1%
1995 60,687 38,344 63.2% 33,298 54.9%
1996 63,144 41,149 65.2% 35,535 56.3%
1997 64,002 41,855 65.4% 36,184 56.5%
1998 65,934 44,095 66.9% 38,092 57.8%
1999 67,065 44,794 66.8% 38,901 58.0%
Part-time
1990 23,608 8,838 37.4% 5,273 22.3%
1991 24,797 9,186 37.1% 5,500 22.2%
1992 24,259 9,052 37.3% 5,194 21.4%
1993 23,922 8,605 36.0% 5,025 21.0%
1994 23,840 9,347 39.2% 5,261 22.1%
1995 23,790 9,348 39.3% 5,508 23.2%
1996 24,022 9,673 40.3% 5,406 22.5%
1997 23,508 9,774 41.6% 5,465 23.3%
1998 21,937 9,679 44.1% 5,615 25.6%
1999 21,815 9,166 42.0% 5,562 25.5%
______________________________________________________________________
Source: CRS analysis of the Current Population Survey, various years.
Note: Private-sector non-agricultural workers, ages 25 to 64.
POLICY IMPLICATIONS: PROMOTING SAVINGS AND PLAN SPONSORSHIP
[42] PROMOTING RETIREMENT SAVINGS. Employers, financial institutions, and government agencies can play an important role in raising pension participation rates by educating employees about the importance of saving for retirement. The educational role that these institutions might play was discussed at the first National Summit on Retirement Savings, held in Washington, DC in June 1998. The summit, which was held in accordance with the Savings Are Vital to Everyone's Retirement (SAVER) Act of 1997 (P.L. 105-92), brought together individuals from government, financial services firms, research and educational institutions, the media, representatives of labor organizations, and employers of all sizes.
[43] The Secretary of Labor's report on the summit noted that "we must do a better job of educating the public -- employers and individuals alike -- about the importance of saving . . . to ensure that we can afford to retire and remain financially independent." Among the strategies for which the delegates to the summit were able to develop a consensus were:
o Expanding the federal government's role in educating the
public about the need to prepare for retirement through such
efforts as the Department of Labor's Retirement Savings
Education Campaign,
o Encouraging states to initiate their own programs to promote
saving for retirement,
o Urging the media to take greater interest in and more creative
approaches to informing the public about retirement saving,
o Calling on the private sector to support public education
through such programs as the "Choose to Save" campaign
undertaken in the Washington, DC area with funding by Fidelity
Investments, and
o Urging employers to sponsor retirement plans.
[44] PROMOTING PLAN SPONSORSHIP. The data presented in this report show a trend toward increasing sponsorship of retirement plans among small employers. Surveys of employers by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and of households by the Bureau of the Census both report gains in retirement plan coverage during the 1990s among workers employed at firms with fewer than 100 employees. Nevertheless, both surveys indicate that employees at small firms are much less likely to be covered by a retirement plan than workers in larger firms. Thus, encouraging small employers to sponsor a pension or retirement savings plan remains a key issue for policy-makers. Results of future BLS and Census Bureau surveys will reveal the extent to which the SIMPLE plans authorized by Congress in 1997 will further encourage small employers to offer defined contribution pension plans. More recent proposals, particularly the SAFE and SMART bills would authorize simplified defined benefit plans for small firms.
[45] Another issue that these date [sic] reveal is the continuing disadvantage that women face with respect to future pension income because their employment is more likely to be part- year or part-time. Policies that would encourage pension participation in retirement plans for workers whose attachment to the labor force is shorter or more intermittent than that of year-round, full-time workers would help to ensure a more secure retirement for these workers. Policy options include shortening the maximum length of time before pension participants are fully vested in their retirement benefits and promoting portability of retirement benefits.
[46] Given that employers rely increasingly on defined contribution plans as their main form of retirement plan, the low rates of participation among workers under age 35 also may be a matter of concern for policy makers. Traditional defined benefit pensions are usually "back-loaded" in the sense that benefits are based on an employee's average earnings during his or her final 3 or 5 years of employment. In these traditional pension plans, some workers accrue as much as 50% of their total pension benefit during their final few years of work. Defined contribution plans differ from DB plans in that workers accrue benefits more evenly throughout their working lives. A DC pension plan is much like a savings account. Money is deposited each year, and it is these deposits, plus the interest, dividends, and capital gains they earn that provide the worker's retirement income. Thus, a DC pension depends very much on the effect of COMPOUND INTEREST to ensure that the contributions made by the worker and/or the employer grow to an amount that is sufficient to provide adequate income during retirement. Consider that $2,000 invested each year at 5.0% interest beginning at age 25 will have grown to $256,000 by age 65. The same amount invested at the same rate of interest beginning at age 35 will have grown only to $142,000 by age 65.
[47] Two other issues of concern raised by the data collected through the CPS are the below-average rates of pension participation among African-American workers and among workers with annual earnings of less than $20,000. There is some correlation between these two statistics, as African-American workers have lower annual earnings on average than white or other non-white workers. Thus, policies that would promote increased sponsorship of retirement plans for low-wage workers would likely have some effect on sponsorship of such plans among employers of minority workers as well.
APPENDIX: SOURCES OF PENSION COVERAGE DATA
[48] Data on employer sponsorship and employee participation in pension and retirement savings plans are available from several sources ways: (1) the Form 5500 is submitted each year to the Internal Revenue Service by employers who sponsor a retirement plan; (2) surveys of employers are conducted by government agencies, trade associations, and others interested in pension issues; and (3) surveys of households are conducted by government agencies and other interested parties. Each source of data has its own particular strengths and weaknesses.
[49] THE IRS FORM 5500. All sponsors of employee benefit plans that are subject to ERISA must file Form 5500 annually with the Internal Revenue Service. Form 5500 must be filed for pension plans whether or not they are "qualified" (tax-exempt), and regardless of whether benefits continue to accrue or contributions continue to be made. Plans with fewer than 100 participants file a slightly different form, the 5500-C/R. The Form 5500 is a rich source of data on the financial characteristics of employer-sponsored pension plans in the United States. Summaries of the data collected on the Form 5500 are published periodically by the Department of Labor. 22 The data collected include the number of plans of each type, the number of participants, the number of active participants, contributions to the plans, and the value of plan assets. Plans are categorized by number of participants, by industry group, by method of funding, by distribution of assets among types of investment, and other financial characteristics.
[50] The Form 5500 has two important shortcomings with respect to identifying trends in the prevalence of pension plan sponsorship and participation. First, data from the Form 5500 are available only for employers that sponsor a plan and are required by law to file this form with the IRS. The data cannot be used to compare firms that sponsor pension plans with firms that do not. Furthermore, the Form 5500 will not be useful for evaluating the impact of SEP and SIMPLE plans on pension sponsorship and participation because firms sponsoring these plans have been exempted from filing the form as an incentive for small employers to sponsor such plans. A second drawback of the Form 5500 is the lag between data collection and the publication of results. Because of the large volume of information processed and the need to reject some forms because of errors or omissions, several years elapse between the date that the forms are submitted and the time that the data become generally available. (Abstracts from the Form 5500 for calendar year 1996 were published by the Department of Labor in early 2000.)
[51] SURVEYS OF EMPLOYERS. The Employee Benefits Survey is conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor. This survey of business establishments and nonfederal government entities is the source of data for a series of BLS bulletins on employee benefits. The Employee Benefits Survey (EBS) is one element of the National Compensation Survey, which also produces the Employment Cost Index (ECI), a measure of the cost of employee compensation that includes both cash and in-kind compensation. Data from the ECI are widely used among financial analysts and economists in both government and the private sector, and it has been designated in federal statute as the basis for computing annual wage adjustments for civilian federal employees and military personnel.
[52] In even-numbered years, BLS surveys state and local governments and small private establishments (those with fewer than 100 employees), while in odd-numbered years the agency surveys medium and large private establishments. The survey of small private establishments collects data from over 2,100 participating firms, which in 1996 represented 40 million full-time and 14 million part- time workers in firms with fewer than 100 employees. 23 More than 1,900 establishments participated in the 1997 survey of medium and large employers, representing 38 million full-time and more than 7 million part-time workers in these establishments. The data collected through the EBS usually are available more quickly than the plan characteristics submitted on the Form 5500, but there is a lag of about 2 years between the collection of data and publication of results. Final results of the 1996 BLS survey of small private establishments were released in April 1999. Data from the 1997 survey of medium and large employers were released in September 1999.
[53] Private-sector entities such as trade associations, benefits consultants, and research institutions also periodically conduct surveys of employers to gather information about the structure and cost of employee benefits. One such survey cited in this report is the 2000 Retirement Confidence Survey conducted by the Employee Benefit Research Institute in association with the American Savings Education Council and Matthew Greenwald and Associates. This survey was not intended to collect information about the characteristics of retirement plans, but to gauge the views and attitudes of small employers regarding retirement plans and related issues. The survey was conducted by telephone interview in January and February 2000 among 600 companies, of which 300 sponsored one or more retirement plans.
[54] SURVEYS OF HOUSEHOLDS. The Bureau of the Census conducts the Current Population Survey each month among a random sample of approximately 50,000 households, mainly to collect information about labor force participation needed to estimate the national unemployment rate. Each March, supplemental questions are asked about household economic and demographic characteristics and about employment and sources of income during the previous calendar year. The survey includes two questions about pension coverage and participation during the previous year. Respondents are asked whether ANY employer for whom they worked had a pension or other type of retirement plan for any of its employees. Respondents who answer "yes" to this question are asked whether they were included in the plan. The data collected in the annual March supplement to the CPS are especially useful for policy analysis because of the large sample size, the breadth of topics covered, and the timeliness of the data. The March 2000 CPS includes records for 134,000 people, including 103,000 age 15 and older of whom the labor force questions were asked.
[55] The large sample size of the CPS allows estimation of rates of pension participation based demographic and economic characteristics such as age, gender, full-time or part-time status, size of firm, and annual earnings. The timeliness of the CPS data make it useful for analyzing recent trends in pension coverage and participation. For example, information about pension coverage and participation during 1999 were collected in March 2000 and were made publicly available in September 2000. One limitation of the pension data from the March CPS is that only two questions are asked: whether the individual's employer offered a retirement plan, and whether the individual was included in that plan. Among the important questions NOT asked as part of the March CPS are 1) whether a participating employee is covered by a defined benefit or defined contribution plan and 2) why an employee who is not included in an employer-sponsored plan is not covered by the plan.
[56] The Bureau of the Census, in cooperation with the Social Security Administration and other agencies, has included special pension-coverage supplements in the CPS several times over the past 25 years. Special pension surveys were conducted in 1972, 1979, 1983, 1988, and 1993. Results from the 1993 survey have been published by Woods (1994), Iams (1995), and EBRI (1997). 24 The Census Bureau also collects information about pension coverage and participation in another of its household surveys, the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP). Households are asked to participate in the SIPP over a 32-month period with interviews taking place once every 4 months. Beginning with the 1984 survey, and approximately every two years thereafter, the SIPP has included a series of questions on pension coverage and participation. Iams (1995) compared the information collected in the CPS pension supplements with results obtained from the SIPP for the same years. He concluded that the two surveys produced similar estimates of pension coverage in 1993 and of the trends in coverage from 1983 to 1993, and suggested that "the SIPP's pension information can substitute for specialized studies in the CPS." One drawback of the SIPP is that survey results are not released as quickly as with the CPS due to the complex editing procedures required for longitudinal data sets.
[57] Other national surveys conducted by federal agencies also collect information about participation in employer-sponsored pension and retirement savings plans. Two that are widely used in public policy research are the Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF), conducted by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), administered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The SCF is conducted every three years by the Federal Reserve Board in cooperation with the Internal Revenue Service among a sample that varies in size from about 3,000 to 4,000 households. This survey collects detailed information on household assets, liabilities, and demographic characteristics. The HRS is an ongoing study of 12,600 individuals focusing on the transition to retirement. It provides a nationally representative sample of people who were between the ages of 51 and 61 in 1992 and their spouses. These individuals are interviewed every two years to measure factors that affect work, retirement, health and financial decisions.
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Starr-McCluer, Martha and Annika Sunden. Workers' Knowledge of their
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1 U.S. National Center for Health Statistics, Vital Statistics of the United States.
2 Among women 55-64 years old, the labor force participation rate rose during this period from 43% to 52%. Overall, labor force participation among persons ages 55 to 64 fell from 62% in 1970 to 58.0% in 1999. (Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.)
3 The Census Bureau defines the baby boom to include the years from 1946 to 1964.
4 In 1997, there were 65 live births per 1,000 women 15 to 44 years old. U.S. National Center for Health Statistics, Vital Statistics of the United States.
5 Social Security and Medicare Boards of Trustees, Status of the Social Security and Medicare Programs: A Summary of the 2000 Annual Reports, Washington DC, April 2000.
6 SSA, Office of Policy, Fast Facts and Figures About Social Security, August 2000.
7 SSA, Office of Policy, Fast Facts and Figures About Social Security, August 2000.
8 Defined benefit pensions are taxed when the employee receives benefits during retirement.
9 Retirees can also choose a joint and survivor annuity in which a surviving spouse continues to receive an annuity after the retired worker's death.
10 For purposes of its surveys of employee benefits, BLS defines medium and large private establishments as those with 100 or more employees.
11 The 8 percentage point difference in pension participation rates in the BLS and CPS data results in part from differences in the sampling procedures and survey methods. The BLS conducts its survey among business establishments, while the CPS is conducted among a sample of households. The BLS survey consists of a lengthy set of questions focused on employee benefits that are asked of human resources professionals or other managers. Only a small portion of the March demographic supplement to the CPS is devoted to non-cash benefits provided at work. The questions are asked of a single respondent in the household, who may or may not have full knowledge of his or her own pension benefits, much less those of other adults in the household. Consequently, it should not be surprising that pension coverage is less widely reported on the CPS than on the BLS survey of employers.
12 Retirement Confidence Survey 2000, by Dallas Salisbury, Ruth Helman, Pamela Ostuw, and Paul Yakoboski, Employee Benefit Research Institute Issue Brief 222, Washington DC, June 2000.
13 Includes full-time and part-time workers. (March 2000 Current Population Survey.)
14 P.L. 95-600 authorized tax exemption only for employer contributions to a SEP. The Tax Reform Act of 1986 (P.L. 99-514) allowed workers in firms with fewer than 25 employees to contribute to a SEP on a tax-deferred basis through salary reduction (SARSEP). P.L. 104-188 authorized SIMPLE plans to replace SARSEPs. Firms with under 100 employees may continue to establish SEPs funded exclusively by employer contributions, but new SARSEPs were prohibited after December 31, 1996. Previously existing SARSEPs are unaffected by the new law. H.R. 1102 (106th Congress), passed by the House of Representatives on July 19, 2000, would allow small firms to establish SIMPLE plans funded exclusively through salary reduction arrangements.
15 For more information about SEP and SIMPLE, see CRS Report 96-243, Simplified Employee Pensions: A Fact Sheet and CRS Report 96- 758, Pension Reform: SIMPLE Plans for Small Employers, both by James R. Storey.
16 Private Pension Plan Bulletin, U.S. Department of Labor, Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration, (Number 9, Winter 1999- 2000).
17 BLS, Private Pension Plan Bulletin, (Number 9, Winter 1999- 2000). The number of active participants is the total number of participants minus those who have retired or who have separated from the employer with a vested benefit but are not retired.
18 These rules are intended to prevent pension plans from providing disproportionately large benefits to highly compensated employees or members of the firm's management.
19 Not all employees whose employer sponsors a retirement plan are eligible to participate. For example, workers who have been employed for less than one year can be excluded.
20 In 1990, the participation rate was .223/.374 = .596. In 1999, the participation rate was .255/.420 = .607
21 CRS estimates based on the March 2000 CPS. (Not shown in accompanying tables).
22 The most recent of these reports is Private Pension Plan Bulletin: Abstract of 1996 Form 5500 Reports, U.S. Department of Labor, Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration, Washington, DC (Number 9, winter 1999-2000).
23 Independently-owned small businesses comprise about three- fourths of this total. The remainder are branches or small operating units of larger companies.
24 More recently, the Census Bureau has collected information on pension coverage in the Contingent Work Supplements (CWS) to the CPS, conducted in 1995, 1997, and 1999. A summary of the February 1999 CWS can be found at http://www.dol.gov/dol/pwba.
END OF FOOTNOTES
- AuthorsPurcell, J. Patrick
- Institutional AuthorsCongressional Research Service
- Subject Area/Tax Topics
- Index Termslegislation, taxpension plansIRAsincome tax, individuals
- Jurisdictions
- LanguageEnglish
- Tax Analysts Document NumberDoc 2000-29346 (31 original pages)
- Tax Analysts Electronic Citation2000 TNT 222-24