Retirement is no longer a sure thing for many people as defined-benefit pension plans are steadily declining. As of March 2022, 12 percent of private industry workers and 34 percent of state and local government workers had access to both defined benefits and defined contribution plans. Conversely, only 3 percent of private industry workers have access to defined benefit plans, while 53 percent of state and local government workers do. Meanwhile, 54 percent of private industry workers had only defined contribution plans, and 5 percent of state and local government workers had only defined contribution plans.
This is why it’s so important for workers to contribute to their own retirement plans. After all, although Social Security is a valuable resource, most people won’t be able to live as they did before retirement.
