Labor Secretary Chao Emphasizes Women's Need To Save; Retirement Security, Financial Independence Top Priority Of Labor Department

3/4/2002

From: Kate Whitman of the U.S. Department of Labor, 202-693-4650

WASHINGTON, March 4 -- U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao today addressed the National Center for Policy Analysis Women's Agenda Conference at the National Press Club.

"It's up to us to build the foundation for independence for women's retirement savings. Our nation's future, as well as our own, depends on it," Chao said. "That's why we must protect our retirements, we must take ownership of what it takes to make our retirement secure. This requires actively participating in our own retirement planning."

"Women have a historically low rate of retirement savings. Of the 59 million wage and salaried women working in the U.S., less than half-just 47 percent-participated in a pension plan," Chao continued. "The President's plan will give women new control and confidence about saving strategies, it encourages employers to give workers access to professional investment advice-from advisors required to act solely in the interests of the workers they advise."

Women in the Economy, an initiative within the National Center for Policy Analysis, calls attention to outdated aspects of institutions begun in the 1930s and 1940s. The Women in the Economy project identifies the ways in which women are adversely affected by antiquated institutions and proposes ways to solve problems by empowering individuals and fostering fairness, as well as championing individual rights and free enterprise.

The NCPA was established in 1983 as a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy research institute. The mission is to seek innovative private-sector solutions to public policy problems. The NCPA is a research and education organization operating under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.

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