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Retirement Plan Participation: Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) Data, 2009
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Copeland, Craig F. |
| Copyright Year | 2010 |
| Abstract | This paper presents results from the latest Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) data on retirement plan participation. SIPP is conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau to examine Americans’ participation in various government and private-sector programs that relate to their income and well-being. These latest data are from Topical Module 3 of the 2008 Panel, fielded from April-July 2009. The SIPP data have the advantage of providing relatively detailed information on the retirement plans that workers participate in, but they also have the drawback of being fielded only once every three to five years. In comparison, the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey (CPS) provides overall participation levels of workers on an annual basis but does not provide information on the plan types in which the workers are participating. The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) National Compensation Survey annually examines establishments on participation in various employee benefits, including retirement plans. However, this survey has limited information on worker characteristics (specifically, occupation, union status, and part-time/full-time work) and certain worker categories. This paper provides “top-line” results from the latest SIPP data on retirement plan participation. The latest SIPP data show that 59 percent of all workers over age 16 had an employer that sponsored a pension or retirement plan for any of its employees in 2009, down from previous levels (60 percent in 1998 and 63 percent in 2003), and the same as in 2006. Workers participating in a plan increased to 45 percent in 2009, up slightly from 2006 (44 percent) but down from 2003 (48 percent). The vesting rate (the percentage of workers who say they were entitled to some pension benefit or lump-sum distribution if they left their job) stood at 42 percent in 2009, up from 24 percent in 1979. This increase is largely due to the increased number of workers participating in defined contribution retirement plans (such as 401(k) plans), where employee contributions are immediately vested, and faster vesting requirements in private plans. Defined contribution (401(k)-type) plans were the primary plan for 60 percent of workers with a plan. Defined benefit (pension) plans were the primary plan for 39 percent of workers. Primary plan is the plan type -- defined benefit (DB) versus defined contribution (DC) -- that retirement plan participants regard as their most important. The last section of the paper examines contributions to salary reduction plans (401(k)-type plans). The workers in this study include those from both the private and the public sectors. The PDF for the above title, published in the November 2010 issue of EBRI Notes, also contains the fulltext of another November 2010 EBRI Notes article abstracted on SSRN: “Variation in Public Opinion About Health Reform, by Plan Type: Findings from the 2010 EBRI/MGA Consumer Engagement in Health Care Survey.” |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://www.ebri.org/pdf/notespdf/EBRI_Notes_Feb09.Ret-Partic.pdf |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://www.ebri.org/docs/default-source/ebri-notes/ebri_notes_09-20051.pdf?sfvrsn=5183292f_0 |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
