New EBRI Research: American Workers Retain Retirement Confidence Despite Market Declines

7/22/2003

From: Jim Jaffe of the Employee Benefit Research Institute, 202-775-6353; E-mail: jaffe@ebri.org

WASHINGTON, July 22 -- Most American workers remain confident that they'll have adequate income to finance a comfortable requirement, according to new research from the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI). Declining stock prices over the past few years has made only a modest dent in their confidence level; however, results from the 2003 Retirement Confidence Survey (RCS) indicate there is a substantial and growing unease among older workers about future retirement prospects, even though overall confidence levels are little changed.

These conclusions are reported in the July issue of EBRI Notes, which summarizes the results of the 2003 RCS, sponsored by EBRI and conducted by Mathew Greenwald & Associates, and initially released in April. In 2003, two-thirds of respondents (66 percent) were very or somewhat confident that they'd have adequate retirement income, a decline from the 70 percent confidence level posted the previous year.

The survey has been conducted annually since 1993. In 2003, 16 percent of respondents were not at all confident about having adequate income, near the 17 percent high recorded in 2001. The lowest figure for those not confident, 6 percent, was recorded in 1993. The highest level of confidence, 73 percent, was also recorded that year.

"What's striking about this survey is its consistency. Despite big changes in market performance, the confidence level remains consistently high," said Dallas Salisbury, EBRI president and CEO. But he added: "Nevertheless, the RCS also shows that a lot of people are getting worried."

The article reports that 68 percent of workers said they were saving for retirement in 2003, down significantly from the 74 percent reported in 2000. This figure has not dipped below 60 percent since 1998.