There were 23,056 new 401(k) plans launched in 2013, almost 1,000 fewer than the year before, or a 5 percent decline, according to new data from Judy Diamond Associates.
Still, that means 434,000 workers had new access to a workplace-provided, defined contribution plan. By year end, the new plans held $4 billion in assets.
But only 58 percent of newly eligible workers, or 252,000 participants, ended the year with an account balance.
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That low level of adoption is in part explained by some plans' vesting requirements, which often require a potential participant to log 1,000 hours with the company before formal enrollment, according to the report.
Judy Diamond, a division of ALM, BenefitsPro's parent company, mines form 5500 filings to decipher plan performance benchmarks. The 2013 data represents the most recent information available.
New plans saw $861 million employee contributions, or $1,980 per participant, as employers chipped in about $491 million. Clearly, not all participants in new plans were first-time enrollees in employer-sponsored or individual retirement accounts, as $2.3 billion was rolled into 2013's new plans.
California, New York and Texas, states with the most businesses and people, accounted for one-third of all new plans, adding 7,266.
As a percentage of new plans, Nevada accounted for 6.29 percent of new plans, more than any other state.
That's welcome news for the Silver State. In analysis released earlier in the year, Nevada came in dead last when it came to a state-by-state assessment of 401(k) participation, as only 53 percent of the state's workers were enrolled in a plan.
Arizona, Colorado, Florida and California rounded out the top five for the highest percentage of new 401(k) plans, ranging between 5.25 percent and 6.01 percent of accounted new plans.
Vermont claimed 2.29 percent of new plans, the fewest, with Mississippi and Indiana also bringing up the rear, at 2.77 percent and 2.82 percent, respectively.
For all 401(k) plans, new and old, employers contributed more than $101.5 billion to plans in 2013, $5 billion more than in 2012.
Delaware was the state with the highest average employer contribution, at $3,114.
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Nick Thornton
Nick Thornton is a financial writer covering retirement and health care issues for BenefitsPRO and ALM Media. He greatly enjoys learning from the vast minds in the legal, academic, advisory and money management communities when covering the retirement space. He's also written on international marketing trends, financial institution risk management, defense and energy issues, the restaurant industry in New York City, surfing, cigars, rum, travel, and fishing. When not writing, he's pushing into some land or water.
