The Bureau of Labor Statistics explains who has a retirement plan
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS.gov) published an article in January 2023 about retirement plans. No surprise, it showed that more government workers had access to retirement plans than did private industry workers. There's an adage that government work is dull but stable, low paid, but provides a pension. Not exactly true, but not exactly false either.
(Spoiler: in defiance of the AP style guide, I'm going to use the % sign in this article.)
BLS reports that in the Spring of 2022, 69% of private industry workers had access to retirement benefits, while 92% of state and local government workers had access. Of those who had access, 52% of private industry workers participated, while 82% of state and local government workers participated.
The take-up rate, or the percentage of workers with access to a plan who participated in the plan, was 75% for private industry workers and 90% for state and local government workers. Smart government workers and/or poorly paid private industry workers.
A bigger difference: Only 15% of private industry workers had access to a defined benefit plan like a pension, compared with 86% of state and local government workers. Defined benefit plans provide employees with guaranteed retirement benefits based on a benefit formula. A participant's retirement age, length of service, and pre-retirement earnings may affect the benefits received. Defined contribution plans, like the 401K, collect pre-tax employee contributions and invest them in a set of vehicles chosen by the company. There's often a choice within the plan and the employer may make contributions to an individual employee's account. Industry workers who don't participate in an employer's defined contribution plan may miss out on "free" money.
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Some small companies, particularly startups offer stock ownership as part of compensation. This can be thought of as long-term savings.
Notably absent from the article: gig workers, other self-employed persons, or those working for restaurants and other small businesses. When you are "benefit free" there are still mechanisms for retirement savings. The Individual Retirement Account, or IRA is most notable.