Job hoppers more likely to keep retirement plan access, EBRI finds

Younger workers who switch jobs are more likely to maintain access to a workplace retirement plan than their counterparts from an earlier generation, according to new research.

The Employee Benefit Research Institute compared retirement plan eligibility patterns among Americans born between 1980 and 1984 with those of workers born between 1957 and 1964. Both groups changed jobs frequently throughout their careers and by their early 20s had held around 3.5 jobs on average, increasing to and average of more than 10 by age 43.

Job changes resulted in shifts in retirement plan eligibility for a significant share of workers in both generations, with more than 30% of participants either gaining or losing access to an employer-sponsored plan when switching employers.

Despite that disruption, younger workers fared better overall. By ages 39 and 40, more than 85% of participants born between 1980 and 1984 had been eligible for a retirement plan at least once, compared with more than 75% of those in the earlier group.

Income played a meaningful role in how often workers changed jobs. Among those born between 1957 and 1964, lower-income participants changed jobs 26.2 percentage points more on average than higher-income peers. That gap narrowed to 18.4 percentage points among the younger cohort.

Education and earnings also shaped how consistently workers held retirement plan access. Workers with above-median income and tenure were eligible for a plan for more than twice as many consecutive years on average as those below the median. Workers with an associate degree or higher maintained eligibility for roughly 1.5 times as many consecutive years as those with a high school diploma or less.

"Changing jobs is a normal part of many workers' career paths, but it can also be an important turning point for retirement savings," said Craig Copeland, director of wealth benefits research at EBRI. "The findings suggest that younger workers have had more opportunities to be eligible for a retirement plan after switching jobs compared with an earlier generation. At the same time, job changes remain a key moment when workers can lose momentum, so plan design, policy and education efforts that help workers maintain savings, consolidate accounts and continue contributions can play an important role in improving retirement outcomes."

The report highlights provisions such as shortened service requirements and the automatic enrollment measures introduced under the SECURE 2.0 Act as potential factors in improving access for future generations.

EBRI also points to the value of helping workers track retirement assets across employers, manage rollovers, and keep contribution rates steady after a job change as essential steps toward stronger long-term retirement security.