•November 18, 2015•

U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez and Illinois State Treasurer Michael Frerichs on Monday announced sweeping new rules outlining the path forward for state-sponsored retirement savings initiatives. Secretary Perez and Treasurer Frerichs listened to leaders who worry that the looming retirement savings crisis will have a profound impact on lower-income workers’ quality of life in retirement and become an untenable burden on states.

The Department of Labor’s proposed rules will dismantle barriers for state-based solutions to the retirement savings crisis, including Illinois’ Secure Choice Retirement Savings Program. Already, 26 states, including Illinois have taken some type of action to pursue state-based retirement savings solutions that will increase access to employer-based savings programs.

“Secretary Perez’s leadership today will benefit generations of Americans,” Frerichs said. “In Illinois nearly 1.2 million workers are poised to benefit from our Secure Choice Retirement Savings Program. With these new federal rules, my administration can move forward with helping some of our state’s most vulnerable workers. I applaud Secretary Perez and the Department of Labor for partnering with states like Illinois to craft a solution.”

Nationally, only half of working Americans save for retirement, according to the Survey of Income and Program Participation by the U.S. Census Bureau. Of those who do not save, 84 percent work for an employer that does not offer a retirement savings vehicle. A lack of retirement savings increases the likelihood that workers will be over-reliant on social security or retire into poverty, creating significant future burdens on state and federal social safety nets.     Login or Subscribe to read the rest of this story.