State Sponsored Retirement Savings Plans: New Approaches to Boost Retirement Plan Coverage

This paper describes and evaluates models and features used in emerging state-sponsored retirement saving plans such as Auto IRAs, open Multiple Employer Plans and Marketplaces. These plans have enormous potential to raise the number of Americans with access to payroll deduction retirement saving plans. We believe that plans that boost coverage most will feature two characteristics: required provision of retirement saving plans by firms and automatic enrollment of eligible workers. However, we also note that under current legal and regulatory conditions, Secure Choice is the only model that enables states to require that employers provide a plan.