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September 13, 2005
Small Business Pension Adoption Down
A report released by the Congressional Research Service finds that employer-provided pension plans are declining in popularity. According to the report, both the number of employers offering plans and employees participating in plans shrank in 2004.
Small businesses, not surprisingly, were less likely to offer plans to year-round, full-time employees than larger businesses. According to the report, only 26.5 percent of workers at firms with less than 25 employees participated in employer-sponsored plans verses 48.6 percent at employers with 25-99 employees and 67 percent at employers with 100 or more employees.
From a demographic point of view, the report found that men and women participated in roughly equal measure with women edging out men 54.1 percent to 52.9 percent. White workers also were more likely (59 percent) than black (49.7 percent), Hispanic (31 percent) or other non-white (50.8 percent) workers to participate when plans were offered.
To encourage plan adoption and sponsorship, NSBA advocates for streamlining the formation and administration of qualified benefit plans. Watch the work of the House Ways and Means committee this fall as Chairman Bill Thomas (R-Calif.) works on his pension reform bill.
Posted by at September 13, 2005 10:23 AM