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Archived News Release--Caution:
information may be out of date.
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information may be out of date.
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