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Who knew? The move by many states to require Roth IRA-type saving retirement plans for private-sector workers has not discouraged employers from sponsoring their own retirement plan benefits, a new study has found. In fact, in states like California, Oregon, and Illinois, employer-sponsored retirement offerings have grown at the same rates as in other states or surpassed those rates.

The study by Pew Charitable Trusts looked at data from 2021 and earlier, comparing the adoption of retirement plans in states that have required retirement savings plans to states that do not require a retirement savings plan for workers. "We were interested in how these programs affect workers, businesses, taxpayers, and in this case, the private sector market for retirement plans," he said. "We [were asking], 'Were these plans competitors, where maybe employers were dropping plans and going to the state plans, or is it a complementary relationship, where the state programs are actually working in synch with the private sector market,'" said John Scott, director of Pew's retirement savings project. "The latter is what we found."

A growing movement to help workers save for retirement

The study noted that Oregon started enrolling private sector workers six years ago in OregonSaves, the first state program to require retirement saving plans for workers. In the years that followed, 11 other states have established automated programs to help workers create their own individual retirement accounts. The plans are known as auto-IRAs, and automatically enroll employees into savings plans—although employees can choose to opt out. Employees contribute a portion of their paychecks and can raise or lower the percentage at any time.

Related: State's auto-IRAs may encourage sponsors to offer savings plans

The PEW researchers looked at California, Illinois, Oregon because those are the first three states to launch such programs, and have the most data on uptake and results. "The analyses suggested that, in those states sponsoring automated savings programs, employers with plans continue to offer them and businesses without plans were adopting new ones at rates in line with, or even above, the national average," the study said.