Retirement and the Pandemic

 According to the 20^th Annual Transamerica Retirement Survey of American Workers, seven in 10 workers (70 percent) are confident they will be able to fully retire with a comfortable lifestyle, including 27 percent saying they are “very confident” and 43 percent saying, “somewhat confident.” Full-time workers are more likely than part-time workers to be confident in their ability to retire comfortably (75 percent and 65 percent, respectively).

 In Light of the Pandemic. Half of the workers (50 percent) say their retirement confidence has stayed the same in light of the pandemic. However, 21 percent say their retirement confidence has declined, including 19 percent of full-time workers and 22 percent of part-time workers. Full-time workers (23 percent) are more likely to say their retirement confidence has improved, compared with part-time workers (15 percent).

 As a result of the coronavirus pandemic, half of the workers (52 percent) say they have experienced one or more impacts on their employment, including reduced work hours (24 percent) and reduced salary (19 percent). Part-time workers (47 percent) are somewhat more likely to have experienced impacts on their own employment situation, compared with full-time workers (40 percent). Three in 10 workers (30 percent) say that their work has not been impacted, with full-time workers being more likely to be unaffected than part-time workers (39 percent and 28 percent, respectively).

Amid the pandemic, three in four workers (75 percent) are currently saving for retirement through their current/former employer’s retirement plan and/or outside the workplace. Most are saving through their current employer’s retirement plan (53 percent) and 30 percent are saving outside of work. Retirement savings vehicles vary across employment status: Full-time workers (70 percent) are significantly more likely than part-time workers (22 percent) to be saving in their current employer’s plan. Part-time workers are more likely to be saving outside of work (37 percent) compared with full-time workers (29 percent). A concerning 33 percent of part-time workers are not saving for retirement, which is significantly more than the 14 percent of full-time workers who are not saving.

Workers are feeling the financial squeeze as a result of the pandemic, and some are dipping or planning to dip into their retirement savings. One in three workers (33 percent) have already and/or plan to take a loan and/or withdraw from their qualified retirement accounts such as a 401(k), 403(b), or similar plan or IRA as a result of the pandemic. Twenty-three percent of workers have already done so and 17 percent plan to do so. Part-time workers (18 percent) are more likely than full-time workers (7 percent) to not have savings in a qualified retirement plan from which they could make such withdrawals.