What Influences New Hires to Save for Retirement?
ResearchPublished Nov 16, 2010
Many people who start new jobs fail to enroll in employer-offered retirement saving programs, even when the employer offers to match their contributions. It is not clear why they do not take advantage of these plans or what can be done to change that behavior. Researchers are studying the behavior of new hires at six large employers to identify the factors that influence the choice to start saving for retirement. They have found that employees are responsive to employer match incentives in optional plans but with gaps by gender, age, and income group. Automatic saving plans have the highest participation rates and no such gaps.
Related Content
Topics
Document Details
- Copyright: RAND Corporation
- Availability: Web-Only
- Year: 2010
- Pages: 5
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.7249/WB106
- Document Number: WB-106
Citation
RAND Style Manual
Clark, Robert and Melinda Sandler Morrill, What Influences New Hires to Save for Retirement? RAND Corporation, WB-106, 2010. As of October 9, 2026: https://www.rand.org/pubs/working_briefs/WB106.html
Chicago Manual of Style
Clark, Robert and Melinda Sandler Morrill, What Influences New Hires to Save for Retirement? Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2010. https://www.rand.org/pubs/working_briefs/WB106.html.
This issue of Insight summarizes research conducted within the Financial Literacy Center.
This publication is part of the RAND working paper brief series. RAND working paper briefs were short summaries of reviewed working papers that were aimed at a policy audience. Unless otherwise indicated, working paper briefs can be quoted and cited without permission of the author, provided the source is clearly referred to as a working paper brief.
This document and trademark(s) contained herein are protected by law. This representation of RAND intellectual property is provided for noncommercial use only. Unauthorized posting of this publication online is prohibited; linking directly to this product page is encouraged. Permission is required from RAND to reproduce, or reuse in another form, any of its research documents for commercial purposes. For information on reprint and reuse permissions, please visit www.rand.org/pubs/permissions.
RAND is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.