New York City Public Advocate and former Fort Greene City Councilwoman Letitia James yesterday introduced legislation creating a commission of experts to study the establishment of a pension fund for private sector workers in New York City.
The proposed measure comes as studies have repeatedly found that most New Yorkers are unprepared for retirement with 60% of private sector workers in the city without access to a pension or 401(k). City Council Members Daneek Miller, Rory Lancman, and Ben Kallos are lead co-sponsors of the legislation.
“More than half of New York City workers are projected to be poor or near poor once they retire – the time to act on retirement security is now,” said James. “This legislation is about taking the politics out of retirement and bringing business, labor, and academic experts and leaders together to create an inclusive, substantive approach to solving this problem.”
New Yorkers will need $204,000 in retirement savings just to stay at the New York City poverty level during retirement, yet approximately half of New York City workers nearing retirement have less than $100,000 in liquid assets. Additionally, only 25% of all working-age New Yorkers participate in an employer-sponsored retirement plan.
“Our nation faces a $6.8 trillion retirement deficit, according to the National Institute on Retirement Security, which this legislation seeks to solve,” said Kallos, who besides being a city council member is an Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) Attorney. “Erosion of pensions in the public sector and retirements benefits in the private sector have left our working families without a way to save a nest egg for retirement. Providing small businesses in the private sector with the tools they need to offer their employees better retirement benefits will go a long way towards filling the the retirement deficit and providing workers the retirement they deserve.”
“Baby Boomers in New York City are struggling right now – they aren’t saving for their retirement, mainly because many employers don’t offer them access to any way to save for the long run,” said Beth Finkel, State Director for AARP in New York State.
The legislation will create an 11 member board of experts that will make recommendations within one year to the Mayor, City Council, Public Advocate, Comptroller, and Borough Presidents about the feasibility of establishing a private pension fund. The Mayor will have three appointees to the board, the Speaker, the Public Advocate, the Comptroller, and each Borough President will each have one appointee on the board. The legislation also stipulates that the Public Advocate, jointly with each Borough President, will hold two meetings per borough to solicit input from the public on the issue.
