Trends in retirement plan coverage over the last decade

Monthly Labor Review

Volumn 129, Issue 2, 2006, Pages 58-64

  Costo, Stephanie L ^a  

^a BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS   (United States)

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EID: 33644812662     PISSN: 00981818     EISSN: 00981818     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (41)

1. The 1992-93 BLS survey of benefits, part of the Employee Benefits Survey, includes data on both full- and part-time workers in private industry.
2. The 2005 BLS survey of benefits in private industry, part of the National Compensation Survey, combines data on both full- and part-time workers in private-sector establishments.
3. Coping with the Economy: Survey on Retirement Programs (Mercer Human Resource Consulting, Jan. 4, 2004).
4. For a similar comparison of data considerations in regard to prescription-drug trends, see Elizabeth Dietz, "Trends in employer-provided prescription-drug coverage," Monthly Labor Review, August 2004, pp. 37-45.
5. For complete aggregate data series for the NCS transition years of the 1990s, see William J. Wiatrowski, "Documenting Benefits Coverage for all Workers," Compensation and Working Conditions Online, May 26, 2004; revised version dated Dec. 20, 2005, on the Internet at http://www.bls.gov/opub/cwc/cm20040518ar01p1.htm.
6. William J. Wiatrowski, "Medical and retirement plan coverage: exploring the decline in recent years," Monthly Labor Review, August 2004, pp. 29-36. Much of the discussion on employment changes in the current article is taken from Wiatrowski's article.
7. William J. Wiatrowski, "Factors affecting retirement income," Monthly Labor Review, March 1993, pp. 25-35, especially p. 26.
8. Although the BLS benefits survey was not designed to estimate employment, the share of employment it found in various groups is similar to that found in the Bureau's Current Employment Statistics program. For a similar comparison and example, see Wiatrowski, "Medical and retirement plan coverage," p. 32.
9. National Compensation Survey: Employee Benefits in Private Industry in the United States, Summary Report 05-01 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, March 2005), p. 2.
10. "Union Members Summary," Current Population Survey (Bureau of Labor Statistics, Feb. 9, 1994, and Jan. 20, 2006).
11. Wiatrowski, "Medical and retirement plan coverage," pp. 32-33.
12. American Benefits Council, Pension Interest Rate Reform: Preventing Pension Freezes and Economic Stagnation While Preserving Strict Funding Requirements, on the Internet at http://www.americanbenefitscouncil.org/documents/051603_rate_pts.pdf., see especially p. 1.
13. For more information on issues concerned with defined benefit plan funding, see Report of the Working Group on Defined Benefit Plan Funding and Discount Rate Issues (U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration, Nov. 7, 2003).
14. For more information on the Pension Funding Equity Act of 2004, see Internal Revenue Service, "Pension Funding Equity Act of 2004," on the Internet at www.irs.gov.
15. Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration, Study of 401(K) Plan Fees and Expenses, final report (Springfield, VA, Economic Systems, Inc., Apr. 13, 1998).
16. National Compensation Survey: Employee Benefits in Private Industry, 2003, Bulletin 2577 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, January 2006), table 100, p. 75. The percentages sum to more than 100 percent because some participants were in more than one type of defined contribution plan.
17. US Report from the 2002 Global Defined Contribution Survey: Success Strategies for DC Retirement Plans (Mercer Human Resource Consulting/ Mercer Investment Consulting, 2002), especially p. 9.
18. Because of rounding, sums of individual items may not equal totals.
19. National Compensation Survey: Employee Benefits in Private Industry, 2003, table 67, p. 82.
20. "U.S. Employers Remain Committed to 401(k) Plans Despite Weak Economy," Hewitt Associates, press release, Sept. 3, 2003.
21. Employee Benefit Research Institute, Encouraging Workers to Save: The 2005 Retirement Confidence Survey, Issue Brief No. 280, April 2005.
22. Dallas L. Salisbury ed The Future of Private Retirement Plans (Washington, DC, Employee Benefit Research Institute, 2000), especially p. xxii.
23. This paragraph presents data for 2002, because no 2003 data on the number of investment choices were available.
24. National Compensation Survey: Employee Benefits in Private Industry, 2003, table 108, p. 83.
25. Ibid., table 60, p. 75.
26. Much of the discussion on automatic enrollment comes from Douglas A. Conkel, Increasing Plan Participation through Automatic Enrollment (Chicago, Milliman & Robertson, fall 2000)
27. Much of the ensuing discussion on traditional and cash balance defined benefit plans is taken from Allan P. Blostin, "Distribution of retirement income benefits," Monthly Labor Review April 2003, pp. 3-9.
28. Much of the ensuing discussion on employer objectives is taken from L. Bernard Green, "What is a Pension Equity Plan?" Compensation and Working Conditions Online, Oct. 23, 2003; on the Internet at http://www.bls.gov/opub/cwc/em20031016ar01pl.htm#4.
29. For a more detailed description of cash balance plans, see Kenneth R. Elliott and James H. Moore, Jr., "Cash Balance Pension Plans: The New Wave," Compensation and Working Conditions, summer 2000, pp. 3-11.
30. Richard W. Johnson and Cori E. Uccello, "The Potential Effects of Cash Balance Plans on the Distribution of Pension Wealth at Midlife," Final Report to the Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration (U.S. Department of Labor, August 2001), p. 1.
31. For more information on cash balance plans, see L. Bernard Green, "Question and Answers on Cash Balance Plans, Compensation and Working Conditions Online, Sept. 22, 2003; on the Internet at http://www.bls.gov/opub/cwc/cm20030917ar01p1.htm
32. Employee Benefits in Medium and Large Establishments, 1991, Bulletin 2422 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 1993), table 82, p. 87.
33. National Compensation Survey: Employee Benefits in Private Industry in the United States, 2000, Bulletin 2555 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, January 2003), table 61, p. 58.
34. National Compensation Survey: Employee Benefits in Private Industry, 2003, table 40, p. 55.
35. Ibid., table 58, p. 73.
36. For an example and more information on pension equity plans, see L. Bernard Green, "What is a Pension Equity Plan?" Compensation and Working Conditions Online, Oct. 29, 2003; on the Internet at http://www.bls.gov/opub/cwc/cm20031016ar01p1.htm.
37. National Compensation Survey: Employee Benefits in Private Industry, 2003, table 40, p. 55.
38. Allan P. Blostin, "Payment Options under Retirement Plans," Compensation and Working Conditions Online, Apr. 28, 2003; on the Internet at http://www.bls.gov/opub/cwc/cm20030409ar01p1.htm.
39. National Compensation Survey: Employee Benefits in Private Industry, 2003, table 47, p. 62.
40. Employee Benefits in Small Private Establishments, 1992, Bulletin 2441 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 1994), table 80, p. 80;
41. and Employee Benefits in Medium and Large Private Establishments, 1993, Bulletin 2456 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, November 1994), table 144, p. 122.