(Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama will propose in his budgetto let small employers more easily pool their 401(k) plans, in an effort toencourage them to offer the retirement accounts as fewer U.S.workers enjoy pensions.

Obama also will propose in his 2017 spending plan next monthmaking it easier for job-hopping workers to keep track of multipleretirement accounts and combine them.

Read: 10 worst states for employer-sponsoredretirement plans

He wants Congress to provide $100 million to test new, moreportable accounts.

“Workers without a retirement plan at work rarely save,” JeffZients, Obama’s National Economic Council director, told reporterson a conference call. “We know that economic security in retirementis a kitchen table issue.”

Stagnant wages have plagued Obama’s presidency, making savingfor retirement more difficult for many workers even as unemploymenthas been cut in half since he took office.

Read: A big push for multiple employer plans: Butwill DOL act?

Improving the administration and adoption of retirement savingsaccounts is a policy goal Obama shares with some congressionalRepublicans, including Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah, who introducedlegislation in 2013 that would have allowed smallemployers to more easily offer pooled 401(k) plans.

In his last year in office, Obama has said that he hopes to workwith with Republicans on a few legislative priorities where theyagree, including an overhaul of U.S. sentencing rules to reduceprison terms for nonviolent drug offenses. Zients said the WhiteHouse hopes for bipartisan support for Obama’s retirementproposals.

Current law allows limited combinations of employers’ 401(k)plans. Companies that band together must have “commonality”--forexample, a group of car dealerships, Labor Secretary Tom Perez saidon the call.

“What we’re saying in this proposal is you shouldn’t have to bejust auto dealers coming together to be able to benefit from this,”he said.

The administration says allowing businesses to join togetherwill reduce administrative expenses and make it cheaper to providethe accounts to workers.

Many people even a decade away from retirement haven’t savedenough, presenting a looming retirement crisis that Obamais right to address, said Jared Bernstein, a researcher at thenonprofit Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington anda former member of Obama’s economics team.

“It’s important because an increasing number of people areill-prepared for the economic challenges they’ll face inretirement,” Bernstein said in an interview. “The administration, Ican tell you as someone who used to work there, has long been awareof the problem.”

Last year, Obama created a retirement account called amyRA for people without 401(k) plans.The program doesn’t offer matching contributions from employers anddoesn’t allow for investing in the stock market, but it alsoguarantees that participants won’t lose their savings.

His administration is expected to finish a regulation in thefirst quarter of the year that would require investment advisers toput their clients’ best interests first, the so-calledfiduciary rule. It’s opposed by bankssuch as Morgan Stanley, Citigroup Inc. and Wells Fargo & Co.,as well as mutual fund companies, independent brokers, andinsurers.

Read more on the proposed DOL fiduciaryrule

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