When we last checked in with the Judy Diamond 401(k) Benchmark Report, the plan year was 2020 and the ripple effect of the COVID-19 pandemic had taken its toll. Eric Ryles, vice president of Judy Diamond Associates, stressed that although numbers were still moving in the right direction, the rate of the increase had "slowed dramatically." "The plan year represented by this data is not like other years," Ryles understated. The latest report, which analyzed 600,000 active retirement plans with $8 trillion in assets covering 96 million workers, from the ALM Global-affiliated group – and sister unit of BenefitsPro – strikes a more hopeful tone, if still a cautious one. "The 2021 plan year was the second year of the global pandemic, and it's easy to see the impact of COVID in certain data elements," Ryles stresses. The Accommodation and Food Services sector, for instance, was one of the hardest hit by the pandemic. The report, sponsored this year by Mutual of America, shows a decline of 43% in both employer and employee contributions, with a slight account balance fall from $29,415 to $28,032. Two other low-performing sectors were Educational Services and Transportation and Warehousing.

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Overall, however, the total number of plans across all 27 surveyed industries increased from about 606,000 in 2020 to 626,000 in 2021. The number of new plans jumped from 48K to 52K, and the total number of active workers with an account balance rose from 51.3 million to 56.0 million—a 10% bump. "The 2021 plan year can best be described as 'back to work,'" Ryles said. Average per-participant contributions showed a slight decline, with employees at $4,303 from $4,427, and employers steeper at $1,700 from $2,136. Nevertheless, Ryles points out that the most important year over year figure in analyzing whether or not the 401(k) system is actually helping Americans to retire is the number of total participants. "We are pleased to report nearly 5 million more workers ended last year with an account balance in their 401(k) plan," he rejoices. See our slideshow above for the top 10 industries with the best 401(k) performances in 2021, and click here to access the full report.