EBRI’s Jack VanDerhei Interviewed in PIMCO Dialogue

The July 2010 issue of PIMCO’s DC Dialogue features an extensive interview with Jack VanDerhei, research director of the Employee Benefit Research Institute, on worker retirement-income adequacy and confidence. The full interview is online here.

In the article, “All Shook Up,” VanDerhei shares that only a small percentage of workers enjoyed the “good-old days” of defined benefit (DB) pension plans, and that, going forward, he anticipates defined contribution (DC) plans likely will replace a higher percentage of final pay for more people than DB plans have to date.

VanDerhei notes a significant decline in workers’ confidence in their ability to retire successfully since the recent market crisis. While many younger workers regained lost ground in their account values, some longer-tenured employees have yet to recover their losses. VanDerhei believes many of these longer-tenured workers are permanently shaken.

Jack VanDerhei, EBRI research director

In this environment, VanDerhei underscores the need to increase contribution rates in DC plans, encouraging auto enrollment and more rapid contribution escalation—measures that can help workers achieve their retirement goals.