More employers restoring 401(k) plan matches
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More employers are restoring their 401(k) plan matches, with the percentage of employers matching employees' salary deferrals nearing pre-recession levels, according to a survey.
Last year, 73% of employers surveyed by Charles Schwab Corp. provided a 401(k) plan matching contribution, up from 68% in 2010 and 67% in 2009, the peak of the Great Recession, but below the 75% that matched deferrals in 2007 when the economy was still booming.
Other findings from the survey, which was released last week and involved about 1,000 employers, include:
• Forty-two percent of respondents last year offered an automatic enrollment feature in their 401(k) plans, up from 39% in 2010 and 24% in 2007. Automatic enrollment is aimed at those employees who don't say whether they want to make a plan contribution. Unless they specifically object, those individuals then are enrolled.
• Forty percent of employers offered automatic enrollment in conjunction with automatic savings increases, up from 36% in 2010 and 24% in 2007.
Under that feature, the salary deferrals made by employees in automatic enrollment programs automatically are bumped up by a set percentage each year until a maximum deferral percentage is hit.
