With California move, mandatory worker retirement plans gain momentum_英美文化

With California move, mandatory worker retirement plans gain momentum

The movement to require employers to offer retirement plans to their workers just took a big leap forward.

California Governor Jerry Brown signed legislation last week launching the state’s Secure Choice plan - a government-sponsored retirement savings vehicle that would be offered to employees of most companies that do not have their own workplace retirement plan.

California is the seventh state to enact a plan, and it will be the largest by far in the nation. The green light marks a major expansion of government-sponsored retirement plan coverage in the United States - the plan is expected to cover 1.6 million workers in the first year alone; ultimately, 6.8 million will be eligible.

The states taking action are alarmed at the prospect of large numbers of their citizens headed toward retirement with little or no savings - in part because roughly half have no access to a workplace retirement plan.

But California’s move also could also give a major boost to the Obama administration’s efforts to expand coverage for workers at the national level. Late last year, the administration launched the myRA platform as a federally sponsored starter IRA for workers just beginning to develop the retirement savings habit. In August, the California legislature agreed to add language to the legislation that adds myRA as an option for consideration by the Secure Choice board.