American Workers
Economic security can be defined as the ability to maintain an adequate standard of living in the face of health uncertainties, income interruptions and retirement needs. In order to be economically secure, all American Workers should have:
- Comprehensive health coverage
- Adequate resources (through personal savings, employer benefits and government programs) to weather income interruptions
- Access to appropriate retirement savings vehicles (individual, employer and government-financed) and adequate financial resources within these vehicles to meet retirement needs
Using this definition, the economic security of American workers is weak and falling, particularly for low-income and minority workers. The rise in economic insecurity is reflected in both qualitative opinion data and hard public data. People are worried and they are right to be.
Fifty-nine percent of workers lack employer-based retirement savings, and 18 percent lack health insurance. Conservative estimates indicate that roughly sixty percent of workers lack either employer-based retirement savings, health insurance or both. These statistics also vary significantly by race and income. For example, one third of lower middle class workers lack health insurance, while 44 percent of the working poor won’t have the minimum income needed to retire at age 67.
More subjectively, a national survey on economic security recently commissioned by The Rockefeller Foundation from Yankelovich Research found that two thirds of all respondents would choose a job that guarantees health care and a pension over a job that pays more. In addition, 63 percent of respondents believed the economic security of Americans has declined over the past ten years, and a majority expected things to get less secure over the next 20 years. The subjective worries detected in the survey are not just free-floating anxiety; they reflect real problems of a fraying social contract.
Workers need new, portable, and -- most importantly -- affordable benefits to ensure their economic security. Through its American Workers Initiative, The Rockefeller Foundation would support the development and promotion of new instruments and novel solutions that -- if implemented on a large scale -- would guarantee a basic level of economic security to all American workers.
News
The American Workers Initiative Team leader is Janice Nittoli; Bio
(email the team: american_worker@rockfound.org)
Freelancers Union Helps Millions of U.S. Independent Workers Get Health Care
June 5, 2007, Press release
Independent workers comprise more than 30% of America's workforce, and that number is growing rapidly. Freelancers Union will offer health plans to eligible independent workers and their families in 30 states through UnitedHealthcare's Golden Rule Insurance Company. more
Union Plans Advisory Tool for Young Workers
May 18, 2007; The New York Times
Helped by start-up money from the Rockefeller Foundation, the Service Employees International Union has created a nonprofit organization that plans to help young workers who lack health insurance and are saddled with debt. The nonprofit, Qvisory Tools for Life, plans to give career advice and have blogs and forums in which workers 18 though 35 can discuss jobs and various services. The service employees’ union put up $500,000 to create Qvisory, and the Rockefeller Foundation announced yesterday that it had committed $1 million to the new group. more | The New York Times article
American Workers’ Economic Security Survey 2007 Retirement Confidence Survey Press release from the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI)4/11/07