Black and Latino Retirement (In)Security 
February 2012, by Nari Rhee
» Press Release
» Press Coverage
 This research brief finds that Black and Latino seniors face even tougher times in retirement than American seniors as a whole, based on data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Current Population Survey.
Meeting California’s Retirement Security Challenge through a State Sponsored Retirement Plan:
Policy Design Challenges and Options
February 2012, by Nari Rhee
 This paper outlines key choices in developing a state sponsored retirement system for private sector workers in California who lack access to a workplace pension. The first section briefly outlines the rationale for the creation of a publicly sponsored retirement plan. The remainder of the paper explores critical plan design choices that policymakers face within the constraints and opportunities afforded by two fundamentally different types of plan architecture: individual accounts such as 401(k)s and IRAs, and cash balance plans, a type of defined-benefit pension that limits employer risk and shares some of the characteristics of defined-contribution plans.
Potential Impact of Governor Brown's Pension Reform Plan on Low Wage Workers
January 2012, by Nari Rhee
» Press Coverage
This paper outlines the potential impact of Governor Brown's public pension reform proposal on low-wage workers employed by state and local government, focusing on two elements. One is a “hybrid” pension proposal for new employees consisting of a smaller traditional pension benefit and a 401(k) type individual investment account. The other is raising the normal retirement age for new non-safety employees to 67. Low-wage workers are ill-equipped to bear the risks and increased costs of a 401(k) style plan, need to replace a greater portion of earnings than do middle- or high-wage workers in order to meet basic expenses in retirement, and begin their working careers much earlier, and experience shorter life expectancy, than professional workers. Because of these factors, the two reforms could impose disproportionate costs on workers at the bottom of the wage spectrum.
Meeting California’s Retirement Security Challenge
October 2011, by Nari Rhee, ed.
» Press Release
» Press Coverage
This edited volume brings together rigorous academic and policy research
to outline California workers’ retirement prospects in the context of threats to Social Security, the decline of secure workplace pensions,
and the shift to risky individual investment accounts like 401(k)s. In
California, less than one–half of private sector workers have access to an employer sponsored retirement plan, and nearly half of all workers
are likely to have retirement incomes that place them in or near poverty.
There is also marked racial and socioeconomic inequality in life
expectancy among California residents that persists at retirement age.
Fortunately, state level policies can make it easier for employers and
employees to participate in cost–efficient and secure retirement plans for
workers who do not have an adequate pension.
Download individual chapters
- Introduction: The Coming Age of Retirement Insecurity
Jacob Hacker
- California Workers’ Retirement Prospects
Sylvia A. Allegretto, Nari Rhee, Joelle Saad-Lessler and Lauren Schmitz
- Life Expectancy in California’s Diverse Population: Recent Estimates by
Race/Ethnicity and Neighborhood Social Class
Christina A. Clarke and Amal Harrati
- The Employer Case for Defined Benefit Pensions
Beth A. Almeida and Christian E. Weller
- Designing a More Attractive Annuitization Option: Problems and Solutions
Anthony Webb
- High Performance Pensions for All Californians
Teresa Ghilarducci
Author Biographies
|
