More than two-thirds of state and local public employees feel confident that they will have enough money to live comfortably in retirement.
However, one fifth of workers do not know what retirement plans are offered and as a further complication, workers younger than 50 are more likely to be unaware of any plan types at all, according to new research from The Pew Charitable Trusts a D.C.-based independent, nonprofit think tank.
According to a sampling of more than 2,000 state and local full-time government workers from every state and the District of Columbia, while employees place a higher importance on retirement and pension plans, job security, work-family balance and health care still come before retirement benefits.
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More than half of public employees say they prefer a job that offers more generous retirement benefits in exchange for a somewhat lower salary, while 41% said they would swap a somewhat higher salary for less-generous retirement benefits.
When it breaks down, however, these percentages begin to vary by workers age:
- Half of workers younger than 50 said they would prefer the lower-salary, higher-retirement-benefit package, compared with 63% of workers 50 and older.
- Of workers younger than 50, 46% say they would prefer a higher salary and lower retirement benefit, compared with 33% of older workers.
- Workers younger than 30 were most likely to say they preferred a higher salary in exchange for less-generous retirement benefits; 53% selected this option.
Employers should take into account employee satisfaction of current retirement plans. Although 61% of the respondents said they were satisfied with their current plans and should keep them as is, 22% say a major overhaul is needed and 12% think major improvements should be made.
According to Pew, men reported higher levels of satisfaction with both salary and retirement benefits than women: Twenty-six percent of male respondents said they were very satisfied with their salary, compared with 17% of women. Additionally, 39% of men said they were very satisfied with their retirement benefits, compared to 30% of women.
