Americans are facing a retirement crisis. The foundation for building a secure retirement — Social Security, employer-provided pensions, and personal savings — has been weakened because most private sector companies no longer provide pension plans for their employees, questions remain about how to finance future Social Security benefits, and employees have not saved much on their own for their retirement. For more than 40 years now, approximately one-half of the private sector workforce has lacked access to an employer-sponsored retirement savings plan. The deterioration of the foundation for retirement security is one of the greatest economic and financial challenges facing our nation today.

Originally published in Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy Center for Retirement Initiatives - August 2017.