Sure, it’s only one state, but it’s a window into human behavior and indicative of what happens with opt-out versus opt-in retirement plan processes.
A new research analysis finds that enactment of legislation to automatically enroll new South Dakota public employees in the Mount Rushmore State’s supplemental retirement saving plan “substantially increased participation.”
The data indicate that first-year participation rates for government employees with automatic enrollment exceeded 90 percent, while the rate at public employers without automatic enrollment averaged just 5 percent.
The analysis also finds, however, that the proportion of workers contributing to the SRP among those automatically enrolled declines with additional years of employment.
For example, for those hired in 2010 who were automatically enrolled, the participation rate fell from 92.3 percent in year of hire to 80.5 percent in 2016.
In contrast, the participation rates for those not automatically enrolled rise with years of service, but are still well below the rates of those automatically enrolled.
These findings are contained as a new issue brief from the Center on State and Local Government Excellence.
In 2009, South Dakota became one of the first states to add automatic enrollment to its SRP. Previously, state and local employees were offered the opportunity to enroll in the SRP but relatively few public employees voluntarily enrolled.
For example, between 2005 and 2009, fewer than 3 percent of newly-hired workers enrolled in the SRP during their first year of employment.
The automatic enrollment legislation was adopted for two primary reasons:
There was broad concern about the low SRP participation rate. Prior to 2008, only about 20 percent of eligible public employees in South Dakota were actively participating in the SRP.
Following reductions to the SDRS pension benefits, there was concern that public employees’ future retirement income from their pension and Social Security might not achieve a target of at least 85
Under the automatic enrollment features of plans, the plan sponsor must specify a default contribution rate and a default investment option for the plan where the contributions are deposited. Employees have the ability to opt out of the plan, change their contribution rate, and move from the default investment into other investment products offered by the plan.
The brief is authored by Robert Clark, Zelnak Professor at North Carolina State University, Joshua Franzel, SLGE’s president and CEO, and Denis Pelletier, Associate Professor at North Carolina State University.
With more than 20 years serving financial markets, John Sullivan is the former editor-in-chief of Investment Advisor magazine and retirement editor of ThinkAdvisor.com. Sullivan is also the former editor of Boomer Market Advisor and Bank Advisor magazines, and has a background in the insurance and investment industries in addition to his journalism roots.
