Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis Print This Page Print This Page  Decrease Text Size Increase Text Size Text Size  Email This Page E-mail This Page

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

PENSION AND WELFARE BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION

LABOR DEPARTMENT ATTENTION ON WOMEN AND PENSIONS

Tues., Oct. 24, 1995

For more information call: (202) 219-8921.

The Department of Labor's Assistant Secretary for Pension and Welfare Benefits, Olena Berg, announced today during a keynote address at a forum on women and pensions that women are a particular focus of the department's Retirement Savings Education Campaign.

The campaign is a national effort to raise public awareness about pensions and the need to adequately prepare and save for a secure retirement.

Women are one of the groups targeted by the campaign because they have always needed to take greater responsibility for their retirement planning. Berg released a summary of statistics that illustrate the challenges women face in preparing for retirement. She noted that "data we have now makes it clear that women are particularly at risk of finding themselves financially unprepared for retirement."

During her speech at the National Press Club at a women's pension policy conference, Berg highlighted pension trends that show women are at greater risk than men of not having adequate retirement income. These trends show:

  • Women are less likely to have earned pension benefits during their working years than their male counterparts.
  • Even where they have coverage, women's benefit levels are considerably lower than men.
  • Fewer women choose to participate in 401(k) plans than men and invest more conservatively than men.

Berg noted, however, that "while the status of women in our current retirement income system poses a real challenge for all of us, there are reasons to be optimistic that this is a challenge that we can meet." Among the promising trends noted by Berg were the dramatic narrowing of the pension gap between men and women over the last two decades and the fact that female private wage and salary workers under age 35 have slightly higher coverage rates than men.

The department has produced a new brochure, "The Top Ten Ways to Prepare for Retirement," with simple steps that can be taken to help all Americans prepare for retirement. The brochure also includes a list of organizations and phone numbers where people can get additional information on retirement planning issues. For copies of this brochure, call (202) 219-9247.


Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.