Auto-IRA Rollout Gradually Speeding Up

Anek Belbase, Laura D. Quinby and Geoffrey Sanzenbacher

No 2020-5, Issues in Brief from Center for Retirement Research

Abstract: Six states (California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, and Oregon) have enacted auto-IRA programs that require employers without a retirement plan to automatically enroll their workers in an IRA, with workers allowed to opt out. Auto-IRAs require much less of employers than 401(k) plans. The only things that employers need to do are register with the state, provide basic data on their employees, and update payroll procedures to allow for deductions of employee contributions. Early data on OregonÕs auto-IRA show that this process can take longer than policymakers first anticipated.1 Although the initial deadlines for employer participation in OregonSaves were largely aspirational, since the state lacked information on what a reasonable timeline should look like, any delay on the employer side means that employees are slower to begin saving, which in turn places stress on the early finances of the program. This brief examines the Oregon rollout to determine whether the employer process is improving as the program matures, and to identify types of industries and employers that are taking longer to roll out the program. The discussion proceeds as follows. The first section describes OregonSaves and its enrollment process. The second section explains the analytical framework used to explore employer rollout. The third section describes the results. The final section concludes that the rollout is getting faster as OregonSaves matures, and that small employers and those in the farming industry may especially need assistance during the start-up phase.

Pages: 9 pages
Date: 2020-03
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