American workers favor government mandates requiring employers to offer retirement plans and make matching contributions, according to a new survey released Tuesday by Natixis Investment Managers.
More than 4 in 5 workers (81%) said that employers should be required to offer workplace retirement savings plans, with millennials voicing the greatest support for such a mandate (88%) followed by Generation X (79%) and baby boomers (70%).
More than 3 in 5 workers (78%) also said they support requiring employers to make matching contributions to their retirement plans. Support for mandatory matching contributions was greatest among millennials (87%) and softest among baby boomers (67%).
In addition, 67% said they believe the government should provide universal access to retirement plans with 85% of millennials backing this idea.
Workers also favor requiring individuals to make contributions to their plans, a sentiment shared by 69% of those surveyed. Millennials expressed the most support for mandating individual contributions (82%) with Generation X and baby boomers giving the idea much more tepid support at 59% and 54%, respectively.
Workers' aggressive stance may stem from the fact that 70% believe that their Social Security benefits will be dramatically reduced when they retire, a view held by 83% of millennials.
In fact, just 46% of millennials — half as many as baby boomers (90%) — are even factoring Social Security into their retirement income planning. Millennials are looking beyond traditional sources of retirement income to fund their retirement, including equity in their homes (29%), inheritance (24%), rental income (19%), sale of a business (19%) and even support from their children (19%), according to survey findings.
"It's gotten to the point where one in five millennials, the generation that started out living in their parents' basement, now think they might end up in their kids' garage," said Dave Goodsell, executive director of the Natixis Center for Investor Insight, in a news release.
The study was based on 736 U.S. workers who had access to workplace retirement plans. It was conducted in January and February 2023.
