Brief Do Low-Income Workers Benefit from 401(k) Plans? (Full Report)
Eric Toder, Karen E. Smith
Display Date
File
File
Download
(1.07 MB)

Add Urban on Google
Economists frequently assume that employees pay for employer-provided fringe benefits, such as contributions to retirement plans, in the form of reduced wages. This paper challenges these assumptions. Because low-income employees receive little tax benefit from saving in qualified retirement plans, they may not be willing to accept a one dollar reduction in their wage in return for an additional dollar contributed to their 401(k) plan. We find that employers reduce wages of high-income workers by 90 to 99 cents for every dollar contributed to a 401(k) plan, but they reduce wages of low-income workers by only 11 to 29 cents.
Research and Evidence Tax and Income Supports
Expertise Taxes and the Economy Wealth and Financial Well-Being
Tags Wages and nonwage compensation Individual taxes Federal budget and economy Retirement policy