White People Are Much More Likely To Have Access To Retirement Savings Plans

White People Are Much More Likely To Have Access To Retirement Savings Plans: Most black and latino workers have nothing saved for retirement and few have access to an employer-sponsored retirement plan, according to a new report that underscores how racial disparities in the U.S. economy haunt working people through all stages of life.

Just 54 percent of black and asian workers have the option to save for retirement through employer-sponsored plans. For latino workers, the number falls to 38 percent. By contrast, more than six in ten white workers have workplace retirement accounts, the National Institute on Retirement Security (NIRS) reports.

That access gap produces a corresponding disparity in how financially prepared different races are to retire. Sixty-two percent of black working-age households and 69 percent of latino ones hold no retirement account assets whatsoever. The corresponding figure for whites is just 37 percent. When the NIRS analysts looked at simple savings accounts rather than specific retirement funds like 401(k)s or IRAs, the same stark contrasts appeared.