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African American and Latino households hardest hit by decline in retirement savings
– Only 54 percent of African American and Asian employees and 38 percent of Latino employees age 25-64 work for an employer that sponsors a retirement plan, compared to 62 percent of White employees.
– African Americans, Asians, and Latinos are respectively 15, 13, and 42 percent less likely than whites to have access to a job based retirement plan in the private sector, compared to 10, 9, and 12 percent less likely in the public sector.
– Households of color are far less likely to have dedicated retirement savings than White households of the same age. At the same time, retirement coverage appears to be positively associated with the existence of dedicated household retirement savings in both groups.
– A large majority of African American and Latino working age households (i.e. 62 percent and 69 percent), respectively – do not own assets in a retirement account, compared 37 percent of White households.
– Households of color have substantially lower retirement savings than white households, even after controlling for age and income.
– Three out of 4 African American households and 4 out of 5 Latino households age 25-64 have less than US$10,000 in retirement savings, compared to 1 out of 2 white households.
– Among near-retirees, the per-household average retirement savings balance among households of color (US$30,000) is one-fourth that of white households (US$120,000).
– Across age groups, households of color with at least 1 earner are half as likely as white households to have retirement savings equal to or greater than their annual income. For instance, only 19 percent of households of color near retirement have this much retirement savings, compared to 41 percent of white households of the same age.
