Sixty-four percent of working taxpayers are active retirement plan participants or have spouses who participate, according to a study by the Investment Company Institute.
Nearly 3-in-5 working taxpayers participate in employer-sponsored retirement plans, higher than is typically reported, the study indicated.
Fifty-seven percent of working taxpayers ages 26 to 64 were active in defined contribution or defined benefit retirement plans in 2016 with an additional 7% having spouses who were active retirement plan participants, the study found.
ICI used tax data published by the Internal Revenue Service statistics of income division for its analysis and based the study on 2016 working taxpayers between the ages of 26 and 64.
"By the time they retire, the vast majority of American workers will accumulate resources in employer plans," Peter Brady, ICI senior economic adviser, said in a news release.
In its study, ICI showed that participation increases with age. For example, 55% of workers between the ages of 26 to 34 either participated in an employer plan or had a spouse who did. Among those who were 45 to 64 years old, the rate jumped to 69%.
The ICI study also showed that higher-earning workers are more likely to participate in workplace plans. Only 22% of workers earning less than $20,000 participated in employer-sponsored retirement plans, compared with 85% earning more than $100,000 who did.
