More employers are restoring their 401(k) plan matches, with the percentage of employers matching employees' salary deferrals nearing pre-recession levels, according to a Charles Schwab Corp. survey.
Last year, 73% of employers surveyed by Charles Schwab provided a 401(k) plan matching contribution, up from 68% in 2010 and 67% in 2009, the peak of the Great Recession, but below the 75% that matched deferrals in 2007 when the economy was still booming.
Other findings from the survey, which was released in August and involved about 1,000 employers, include:
- Forty-two percent of respondents last year offered an automatic enrollment feature in their 401(k) plans, up from 39% in 2010 and 24% in 2007.
- Forty percent of employers offered automatic enrollment in conjunction with automatic savings increases, up from 36% in 2010 and 24% in 2007.
Jerry Geisel is editor-at-large at Business Insurance, a sister publication of Pensions & Investments.
