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The value of saving for retirement continued to resonate with both plan sponsors and participants despite the distractions and disruptions of the pandemic last year. In its recent Reference Point report, T.Rowe Price described several indicators that demonstrate the strength of retirement savings plans over the past 12 months.

For instance, the firm's statistics reveal that pre-tax deferral rates increased from 7.6 percent  in 2019 to 7.8 percent in 2020, the largest annual increase it has noted since 2016. T.Rowe Price compared participant deferral behavior with 2008, when the economy was impacted by the Great Recession, and found that the average deferral rate dropped 5 percent in 2008, a contrast to the increase seen last year.

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