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51 percent of private industry workers had access to only defined contribution retirement plans
October 02, 2018
In March 2018, 51 percent of private industry workers had access to only defined contribution retirement plans through their employer. An additional 13 percent had access to both defined benefit and defined contribution retirement plans at their workplace, while 4 percent of private industry workers had access to only defined benefit retirement plans.
Retirement benefits access rates, private industry workers, March 2018
Characteristic
Defined benefit plans only
Defined benefit and defined contribution plans
Defined contribution plans only
All workers
4%
13%
51%
Part-time workers
5
4
31
Full-time workers
3
16
58
Nonunion workers
1
11
54
Union workers
34
34
24
Service-providing industries
4
12
50
Goods-producing industries
4
18
53
1 to 99 workers
2
5
46
100 workers or more
6
22
57
The access rates for defined contribution only plans were 31 percent for part-time workers and 58 percent for full-time workers in private industry in March 2018. An additional 4 percent of part-time workers had access to both defined benefit and defined contribution plans; 16 percent of full-time workers had access to both types of retirement plans.
Access rates for defined benefits retirement plans were highest among union workers: 34 percent of union workers had access to only defined benefits plans and another 34 percent had access to both defined benefit and defined contribution plans. Among nonunion workers, 1 percent had access to defined benefit plans and 11 percent had access to both types of plans.
For workers in service-providing industries, the access rate for only defined contribution plans was 50 percent, compared with 53 percent rate in goods-producing industries.
At establishments with fewer than 100 workers, 46 percent of workers had access to only defined contribution retirement benefits in March 2018. At establishments with 100 or more workers, the rate was 57 percent.
United States Department of Labor
