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Immigrant–native differences in employment-based retirement plan participation*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 November 2011

BRADLEY T. HEIM ,
ITHAI Z. LURIE  and
SHANTHI P. RAMNATH
BRADLEY T. HEIM
Affiliation:
School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University, 1315 E. 10th St., Bloomington, IN 47401, USA (e-mail: [email protected])
ITHAI Z. LURIE
Affiliation:
Office of Tax Analysis, U.S. Department of Treasury, 1500 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, DC 20220, USA (e-mail: [email protected])
SHANTHI P. RAMNATH
Affiliation:
Office of Tax Analysis, U.S. Department of Treasury, 1500 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, DC 20220, USA (e-mail: [email protected])
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Abstract

This paper examines differences between immigrant and native employees in retirement plan participation using SIPP data. We find that the participation rate among natives is 60 percent, while the native-immigrant participation gap ranges from 10.9 percentage points for naturalized citizens to 35.4 percentage points for non-permanent residents. Controlling for demographic and job characteristics can explain up to half of the gap. Decomposing the overall immigrant-native difference into differences in employer offers, plan eligibility, and plan take-up shows that the likelihood of working for an employer that offers a plan is the primary driver of the overall gap.

Keywords

Employment-based retirementsavings planimmigrantsnatives
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Pension Economics & Finance , Volume 11 , Issue 3 , July 2012 , pp. 365 - 388
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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