401(k) savings and participation rates rise, as employers focus on SECURE 2.0: PSCA survey

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Retirement plan participation and savings rates ticked upward in 2023, according to PSCA’s 67th Annual Survey of 401(k) Plans (reflecting 2023 plan-year data). The survey showed that participants and employers contributed more to 401(k)s in 2023 than the year before (though not yet back to 2021’s record levels). It’s unclear why rates improved, but “certainly employer support of retirement programs including automatic enrollment, ongoing financial education, and some stability in certain job markets contributed to strong savings rates in 2023,” said Hattie Greenan, director of research and communications for PSCA.

The PSCA survey, now in its sixth decade, focused on the 2023 plan-year experience of 709 profit sharing plans, 401(k) plans, and combination profit sharing/401(k) plans. Seventy percent of companies allow full-time employees to begin contributing to the plan within three months of hire and 60% allow part-time employees to do so.