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Access to an employer-based retirement plan is critical for building financial security later in life. While Social Security remains the bedrock of American retirement security, almost all
workers will need additional resources to supplement that income and provide money for unexpected expenses. Yet, nearly half of American employees in the private sector—roughly 56
million—work for an employer that does not offer either a traditional pension or a retirement savings plan. That 47 percent includes workers at all levels of earnings, education, and
backgrounds. All of them would benefit from the ability to use payroll deduction to save for retirement, and few households eligible to contribute to an Individual Retirement Account (IRA)
outside of their job regularly do so. This fact sheet offers key figures about Americans’ access to workplace retirement savings programs. About 47 percent of American workers ages 18 to 64
in 2022 were employed by businesses that do not offer any type of retirement plan. In addition: * Small business employees are less likely to have a plan. The smaller the employer, the less
likely its workers are to have access to a retirement plan. Almost 78 percent of those who work in firms with under 10 employees, and about 64 percent at companies with between 10 and 24
employees, lack a plan. However, even among very large employers with more than 1,000 workers, over one third of employees do not have access to an employer sponsored retirement plan. *
Workers at all education levels lack a plan. About three out of four workers with less than a high school degree do not have access to an employer-provided retirement plan—a much higher
percentage than workers with some college (50 percent) and a bachelor’s degree (31 percent). * Employees at all earnings levels do not have access to a plan. About 44 million workers with
annual earnings of $53,000 or less (79 percent of the 56 million) do not have access to an employer provided retirement plan. In addition, almost 12 million employees earning more than
$53,000 do not have access to a workplace plan. * Access to a plan differs substantially by race, ethnicity, and gender. About 63 percent of Hispanic workers, 52 percent of Black workers,
and 44 percent of Asian American workers lack access to an employer-provided retirement plan. Together, they accounted for about 47 percent (26 million) of the roughly 56 million employees
without a workplace retirement plan. In addition, 46 percent of all men and 48 percent of all women do not have access to an employer provided plan. Individual fact sheets detail numbers for
every state and the District of Columbia. Many states are working toward closing the coverage gap through state-facilitated retirement savings programs, but millions still lack the ability
to build financial security at work using payroll deduction. As of October 2024, eleven states had “Work & Save” programs open to savers and nine additional states are implementing
programs.