국가전략정보포털

Title page

Contents

Highlights 2

Letter 5

Background 7

U.S. Retirement System 7

Other Countries' Retirement Systems 9

Automatic Enrollment Is Used to Increase Participation; Certain Workers Remain Hard to Cover 11

Automatic Enrollment 11

Workers Who Remain Hard to Cover 14

Opt-Out Mechanism 16

Administrative Burden 18

Financial Incentives Are Used to Increase Worker Contributions, but Self-Employed and Lower-Income Workers Face Particular Challenges 19

Government Incentives 19

Employer Incentives 21

Challenges Reported for the Self-Employed 22

Challenges Reported for Lower-Income Employees 24

Default Options for Contribution Rates, Investments, and Providers Aim to Facilitate Savings 25

Default Contribution Rate 25

Default Investments 27

Default Plan Providers 30

Flexibilities to Change Contributions or Withdraw Funds May Pose Trade-offs 32

Options When Changing Employers 32

Ability to Stop Contributions 34

Early Withdrawals of Funds 36

Options for Drawing Down Funds 39

Appendix I: Eligibility for Automatic Enrollment in Selected International Retirement Savings Plans 43

Appendix II: Related GAO Products 44

Appendix III: GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments 46

Table 1. Selected International Retirement Savings Plans 10

Table 2. Default Worker Contribution Rates, as Implemented in Selected International Retirement Savings Plans 26

Table 3. Reported Options to Manage Retirement Savings When Changing Employers, as Implemented in Selected International Retirement Savings Plans 33

Table 4. Examples of Trade-Offs for Plan Participants When Changing Employers, as Implemented in Selected International Retirement Savings Plans, Identified... 34

Table 5. Selected Options for Drawing Down Funds at Retirement, as Implemented in Selected International Retirement Savings Plans 40

Table 6. Eligibility for Automatic Enrollment, as Implemented in Selected International Retirement Savings Plans 43

Figure 1. Automatic Enrollment of Eligible Employees, as Implemented in Selected International Retirement Savings Plans 11

Figure 2. Number of Days to Opt Out, as Implemented in Selected International Retirement Plans 17

Figure 3. Tax Treatment for Employees, as Implemented in Selected International Retirement Savings Plans, According to Retirement Representatives and Documents 20

Figure 4. Participants' Eligibility to Pause or Stop Contributions, as Implemented in Selected International Retirement Savings Plans 35

Figure 5. Reasons for Early Withdrawals, as Implemented in Selected International Retirement Savings Plans 37