About Nari
Nari Rhee, Ph.D., is director of the Retirement Security Program at the UC Berkeley Labor Center. Her current research focuses on the retirement crisis facing California and the U.S. in the context of declining pension coverage, and policies to improve the retirement income prospects of low- and middle-wage workers. Before returning to the Labor Center in November 2014, she served for two years as manager of research at the National Institute on Retirement Security. She formerly held appointments as a postdoctoral scholar, visiting scholar, and associate academic specialist at the Labor Center. Dr. Rhee has written on a wide range of issues related to pensions and retirement security, including public pension reform, international pension systems, and retirement plan design. Her analysis of the retirement savings crisis and its racial dimensions has received broad media coverage and informed policy debates at the state and national levels.
Dr. Rhee’s previous work engaged a range of issues related to the economic security of low-wage workers, including care work, income inequality, housing affordability, uneven regional development, and labor-community coalition building. She earned a Ph.D. in geography from UC Berkeley in 2007, a master’s degree in urban planning from UCLA in 1998, and a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from UC Santa Cruz in 1996.
Analysis of the Potential Impacts of Statewide or Regional Collective Bargaining for In-Home Supportive Services Providers
The purpose of this study is to investigate the potential impacts of consolidating collective bargaining for California’s In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) providers from the county level to the state or regional level.
CalAccount: Building on California’s Financial Services Track Record
California can build on the success and lessons of ScholarShare, CalSavers, and CalABLE to provide affordable consumer banking services that meet the needs of economically marginalized communities through CalAccount.
Public Pensions Support Race, Class, and Gender Equity in California
This report finds that public pensions play an outsized role in the retirement security of every major demographic group in California, with the strongest impact on women and people of color. It is also a powerful tool for reducing wealth inequality. As private pension coverage declines, public pensions remain a critical bulwark of middle-class retirement security alongside Social Security, particularly for marginalized communities who have been historically shut out of other wealth-building opportunities.
Closing the Gap: The Role of Public Pensions in Reducing Retirement Inequality
This study analyzes the impact of defined benefit pensions, especially public pensions, on retirement income security and wealth distribution by race, gender, and educational attainment in the U.S. It serves as a companion report to Closing the Gap fact sheets, which are designed to inform the public about the social equity impact of pensions in each state and the District of Columbia.
Home care workers help California’s aging population. Should they be covered by state unions?
Home care workers who provide assistance to elderly and disabled Californians could see more wage equality, according to a recent labor report, by shifting contract negotiations to the state level instead of bargaining individually with California’s 56 individual counties.
California state workers are staying in their job longer and retiring later. Why?
The declining number of retirements is driven by two primary forces, said Nari Rhee. There are fewer older workers in the state’s workforce given a large number of Baby Boomers have already retired from the state. The youngest in that generation are 60 years old. The other factor can be attributed to changes California made over a decade ago that increased the age when public employees received pension benefits
Many Californians lack access to financial services. A public banking option could help them
“For families on the edge, when you’re just really living on a tight margin and then you get hit with a surprise fee, things can wind up cascading really, really quickly,” Nari Rhee said. “Putting a stop to that with access to these accounts I think can make a real difference.”
California state employee retirements dropped in 2023, new CalPERS data show
Why did fewer people retire last year? One likely explanation is people who would’ve retired in 2023 instead took early retirement during the height of the pandemic, said Nari Rhee.
Nearing 80, she can no longer afford to own Arcadia’s Book Rack — or live in California
Retirement in the U.S. is a patchwork system with “a really big gaping hole” for self-employed people such as Kropp, who never worked for a large employer that offered 401(k) matching contributions, said Nari Rhee.
Best and Worst States to Retire (2024)
Nari Rhee is featured on “Ask the Expert” on selecting a place to retire.
Episode 58: Inequities in Retirement: SECURE 2.0 and More with Dr. Nari Rhee
In this conversation, which focuses on labor and retirement issues, Dr. Rhee emphasizes the challenges faced by low and middle-income workers in the U.S. retirement system, particularly in the private sector. The discussion touches on topics such as the inadequacy of Social Security for low-wage workers, barriers in defined contribution plans, and the impact of job characteristics on retirement benefits.
Closing the gap: Public pensions’ key role in retirement security for low-wage workers
Pensions, in general, reduce poverty, and importantly, the anti-poverty impact of pensions is greatest for Black and Latino retirees, as well as for retirees without a college degree, says the National Institute on Retirement Security.
7 Ideas to Reduce the Racial Retirement Gap
The government uses tax breaks to encourage saving, with bigger deductions for bigger contributions (up to caps set by the IRS). That steers the biggest benefit to higher earners who can most afford to save, Rhee says. “We need to restructure the subsidies so that more of the tax benefits go towards low-income households that actually need the help.”
The Racial Retirement Gap in 7 Facts
“Black workers are concentrated in lower-wage jobs, often in the service sector, often with high turnover, where employers just don’t offer the benefits. Or maybe [workers] never get to stick around long enough to be able to qualify for benefits, including participating in a retirement plan,” says Nari Rhee.