Pension Plan Participation Continued to Rise in 2000 - What Next?

Using the 1993-2001 March Current Population Surveys, this article examines pension/ retirement plan participation among wage and salary workers ages 21-64 across various worker characteristics and the characteristics of the workers' employers. The number of salary workers ages 21-64 found to be participating in a pension or retirement plan through their employment reached 62.1 million in 2000, up 50.3 million in 1992. This represents 52.3 percent of the workers in 2000. Furthermore, the study discovered that much of the growth in pension and retirement plan participation during this time was from workers with historically low participation rates - workers of small employers and part-year workers