Less than half of small U.S. employers offer any retirement benefits but they are more aware of the importance of them, a LIMRA survey said.
Of 1,504 small U.S. businesses with between two and 99 employees, only 42% offer any retirement benefits at all, 40% feel retirement benefits are more important than they were three years ago and 57% say they are equally as important, according to the survey conducted in August and September.
The more employees, the more the company is likely to feel that retirement benefits are more important than three years ago. For companies with between 50 and 99 employees, 64% feel they are more important than three years ago, while 48% of companies with between 25 and 49 employees feel that way, 41% of companies with between 10 and 24 employees believe that and finally, only 37% of companies with between two and nine employees believe retirement benefits are more important than three years ago.
An earlier survey conducted by LIMRA's Secure Retirement Institute in June showed that access to retirement plans is the catalyst for saving, with nearly 4 in 10 workers surveyed saying they began saving for retirement because their workplaces offered a retirement plan. That survey was conducted of 1,643 U.S. workers between the ages of 20 and 78 who have ever saved for retirement.
