Here’s who’s getting shut out from retirement savings plans

It’s been well-documented that Americans, on average, haven’t saved nearly enough for retirement.

Some, though, are a lot better off than others. And that may have to do with a wide gap in access to a retirement savings plan at work.

That disparity was described in detail in an analysis released Wednesday by The Pew Charitable Trusts, about access and participation in retirement savings plans.

Overall, the retirement savings shortfall has been well-documented. A recent report from the Government Accountability Office found that among those who have saved, their nest eggs are small; the median amount is about $104,000 for households with members aged 55 to 64 years old and $148,000 for households with members 65 to 74 years old.

If invested in an inflation-protected annuity, those savings would generate just $310 and $649 per month, respectively, according to the GAO.

But millions have nothing to fall back on in retirement beyond a federal Social Security check. Among households with members aged 55 or older, nearly 29 percent have neither retirement savings nor a traditional pension plan, the GAO found.

That may be because many of them — more than 30 million, by Pew’s estimation — don’t have access to a retirement savings plan at work. The data, drawn from federal sources, show wide demographic and geographic gaps in access and participation in the saving plans.

A lot depends on where you live. The share of workers in Wisconsin who can save for retirement at work, through a pension or 401(k) plan, was more than 20 percentage points higher than in Florida.