Facts about Illinois Secure Choice
Overview
Illinois was the first state to pass legislation establishing an auto-IRA, in 2015, and the second to go “live,” in 2018. In 2022, Illinois’ program began expanding to require employers with 5 to 24 employees and no retirement plan to automatically enroll their workers, who are allowed to opt out. Previously, the requirement only applied to firms with 25 or more employees.
To date, Illinois has 3,771 actively participating employers and 126,749 worker accounts (see Table 1).
Employers
As of July 2023, 3,771 employers in Illinois have payroll systems in place to process deductions to Illinois Secure Choice (see Table 2). As the program continues to roll out to smaller employers, the number of firms will continue to grow. Among firms that have registered, not all have completed setting up their payroll systems.
Employers subject to the mandate that do not comply must pay an annual fine of $250 per eligible employee if noncompliance extends 90 days or more after the notice. If the period of noncompliance extends past one year, the annual fine rises to $500 per employee. The program is also open to employers who are not subject to the mandate and self-employed individuals who wish to participate.
Employees
To date, the number of employees with assets in Illinois Secure Choice has reached 126,749. Given the early stage of the program, average account balances are modest. Contributions made in the first 90 days are invested in a money market fund; after that point, the account balance and future contributions are defaulted into a target-date fund. As of the most recent month, 34 percent of eligible workers chose to opt out of participating (see Table 3).
Assets
The program, which is intended to eventually become financially self-sufficient, had assets under management of $133.9 million by the end of July 2023 (see Table 4). To pay for its operating costs, Illinois Secure Choice charges an annual fee of approximately 0.75 percent on program assets.
Related Links
Illinois Secure Choice performance dashboards (Office of the State Treasurer)
