Most U.S. small business owners think the country’s lack of retirement readiness threatens business and the economy, yet that concern doesn’t necessarily translate to concrete action to address it, a new survey has found.
Only about one-third of small-business owners offer a retirement plan for their employees, according to “Poll Report: Small Business Owners’ Views on Retirement Security,” a study the American Sustainable Business Council and the Main Street Alliance conducted in March. The cost of maintaining a plan was the most prevalent reason respondents gave for not offering one.
Beyond the 33 percent that already have a retirement plan, a further 27 percent said they are interested in adding one. Just 23 percent of the smallest businesses, those with two to four employees, provide a retirement plan option. Half of the companies with 50 or more workers had a plan.
“This polling shows that small business owners think that current options for offering a retirement plan are too costly,” Richard Eidlin, director for public policy for ASBC in Washington, D.C., said in a June 12 press release about the survey. “It follows that any proposed federal solutions must be low-cost and easy to administer if they are to be adopted broadly.”
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