The brief’s key findings are: The COVID recession brought the economy to a halt, but households got robust government support and asset markets soared during 2020-2021. Overall, balance sheets showed some improvements during this period: high-wealth households saw rapid asset growth from the booming markets; and those in the middle got market gains and a boost from…
For decades, we and other commentators have asserted that, at any given time, roughly 50 percent of private sector workers participate in an employer-sponsored retirement plan. It used to be easy to check out the “50 percent” number because the federal government’s Current Population Survey (CPS) produced data on coverage and participation for public and…
This paper compares how Black and White workers with stable jobs fare after an unemployment shock. Using administrative earnings data from the Continuous Work History Sample, the analysis compares the earnings trajectories of Black and White workers who are displaced during three recessions (1990-1991; 2000-2001; and 2008-2009)…
My fascinating conversation with Ben Veghte, executive director of the Washington Cares Fund, covered both his state’s innovative model for public financing of long-term...
Are the Social Security Trustees too optimistic? The 2025 Social Security Trustees Report is standard fare. It confirms what has...
FEATURED
CLOSING THE COVERAGE GAP
By Andrew G. Biggs, Alicia H. Munnell and Anqi Chen
The brief’s key findings are: 401(k)s/IRAs have the potential to provide significant wealth. But a typical 60-year-old with a 401(k) in 2016 had less than $100,000 compared to a potential $360,000 in combined 401(k)/IRA assets. Four factors could explain this gap: the immaturity of the 401(k) system, the lack of universal coverage, leakages, and fees…
Associate Director of State & Local Research
Associate Director of Retirement Plans and Finance Jean-Pierre Aubry is associate director of retirement plans and finance at the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. He oversees and conducts research and data collection, develops new analytic techniques for evaluating retirement plans, and secures funding support. Aubry is recognized as a leading expert on stat…
By Kim Blanton
With so many Americans in the dark about how to prepare for retirement, educating them about why it’s critical to save seems an obvious way to tackle this problem. But very few solid studies prove that financial education actually works. This field research should be counted as a positive result for a modest, low-cost financia…
The next Retirement and Disability Research Consortium Meeting will be held virtually on August 3-4, 2023. This free and public event showcases the latest in retirement and disability research from the nation’s top scholars.
CRR IN THE NEWS
USA TODAY
Most Americans think Medicare covers long-term care, the regimen of daily help that many seniors will eventually require. It does not.
NEW YORK TIMES
Demand and costs for care are rising at the same time that a labor shortage threatens to worsen.