Testimony of Nari Rhee, PhD Director, Retirement Security Program Center for Labor Research and Education

Similarly, only 39% of workers in part-time jobs have access, compared to 77% of workers in full-time jobs.1 The gap in take-up – the share of workers with access who actually participate in the retirement plan – is even greater than the gap in reported access. [...] This is due to low wages and the interaction between eligibility criteria related to hours of work and length of job tenure, and the prevalence of part-time, short- term employment in the sector. [...] As the result of the myriad forms of exclusion in the current retirement savings system, retirement asset ownership and savings levels are highly unequal by income, race, and gender. [...] According to data from the 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances, only 10% of the bottom fifth of households age 55-64 (by income) have a 401(k)/IRA, and 37% of the lower-middle fifth, have any retirement assets. [...] Having been deeply involved with the development of the CalSavers program, I offer that there’s much to learn from the states, and from other national models like the UK NEST program and the Australian Superannuation program, in terms of the possible combinations of employer- and publicly-sponsored plans in a universal coverage scheme.