Editor’s Note: This article is part of a series on benefits in job postings, including a deep dive into each benefit type. Find more about overall benefits here, family benefits here, medical/insurance benefits here, and leave-related benefits here.
Key points:
- The share of postings advertising a retirement benefit rose from 21% in January 2020 to 37% in May 2024.
- 1-in-5 (20.4%) postings advertise a 401(k) that does not specify a match.
- The share of all job postings mentioning alternate retirement benefits aside from 401(k) plans has remained flat, increasing from just 4.7% in Jan 2020 to 5% in May 2024.
Retirement benefits are becoming more frequent in job postings, but that growth has been more modest since early 2020 than growth in benefits overall. Likely driven by ongoing labor market tightness and competition among employers for would-be job applicants, advertised benefits — including retirement benefits — have increased in job postings.
The share of postings that mention alternate retirement plans, outside of a typical 401(k), has remained flat for the last few years, but advertisements for both 401(k)s more broadly and advertisements for 401(k)s with employer contributions are on the rise. And the gap between advertisements that do and do not specify an employer match is narrowing.
Retirement benefits in postings are slowly increasing
A retirement benefit was available to 68% of non-unionized, private industry workers as of March 2023, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The share of postings advertising at least one retirement benefit in May 2024 was 37%, up from 21% in January 2020.
Among retirement benefits advertised, 401(k)s without an advertised match account for the largest share of postings (20.4%), followed closely by 401(k)s with advertised matching contributions (19%). Mentions of alternate retirement plans, which are sponsored by an employer and allow employees to invest a portion of their paycheck in something other than a traditional 401(k) or Individual Retirement Account, are found in just 5% of total postings. Mentions of 403(b) accounts, generally only available to employees of certain tax-exempt organizations, are even more rare.
Of course, a job posting can mention more than one retirement benefit. While the chart only shows the share of postings that mention at least one benefit, it’s likely at least some postings will include more than one — hence why the individual shares in the table below will add up to more than the total 37% share of postings in which any single retirement-related benefit may appear.
Advertised benefits by sector
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 35% of the lowest-wage workers had access to a defined contribution plan as of March 2023, compared to 83% of the highest-wage earners. The division is not so stark for advertised retirement benefits. As of May 2024, 39% of job postings in high-wage sectors advertised a retirement benefit, followed closely by 38% of postings in middle-wage sectors and 35% of postings in low-wage sectors.
While the sectors representing the highest share of advertisements with a retirement-related benefit may not have a lot in common at first glance, they all have job postings that are above their pre-pandemic baseline — meaning competition for employees in these fields is still relatively intense.
The sectors with the lowest share of retirement benefits advertised have either a high number of implied benefits or a larger share of part-time postings. A lower share of postings in typically high-wage fields, including science and tech, advertise retirement benefits. Recruiters in these sectors may have less to gain by advertising benefits that are already expected by better-paid job seekers, especially full-time workers. But part-time workers, who are often lower-paid, may be more attracted to overt mentions of retirement benefits that are less common in their fields. Only 40% of part-time workers have access to a defined contribution plan, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, compared to 76% of full-time workers.
401(k) contribution plans
401(k)s without an advertised contribution may account for a larger share of job postings than 401(k)s that do advertise employer matching, but the difference is fairly negligible. And the share of postings advertising a specific match percentage was too small to include. A job posting can advertise both a 401(k) and a 401(k) with matching contributions, but it’s clear that matching contributions are on the rise.
Conclusion
Among retirement benefits, 401(k)s are king, and 401(k) matches aren’t far from the throne. While this analysis does not specify how large any offered 401(k) match may be, employers are increasingly adding a match advertisement to job postings, closing the gap between 401(k)s without specifying a contribution and those with an employee contribution. There is still a significant gap between access to retirement benefits by wage groups, but at least among job postings that gap is narrowing. Time will tell if that means workers in lower-wage sectors will have increased access to retirement benefits, but the closing gap in advertisements is a good sign.
Methodology
We track benefits by tallying US job postings on Indeed that mention at least one benefit in the job posting as of May 2024. Data is not adjusted for seasonality. Overall benefit calculation is limited to one benefit per job posting, while the share of postings by benefit type is limited to one job posting per benefit type. As such, aggregations by benefit type can exceed the share of overall postings for that benefit, as a job posting can include more than one benefit type.
The number of job postings on Indeed.com, whether related to paid or unpaid job solicitations, is not indicative of potential revenue or earnings of Indeed, which comprises a significant percentage of the HR Technology segment of its parent company, Recruit Holdings Co., Ltd. Job posting numbers are provided for information purposes only and should not be viewed as an indicator of the performance of Indeed or Recruit. Please refer to the Recruit Holdings investor relations website and regulatory filings in Japan for more detailed information on revenue generation by Recruit’s HR Technology segment.