Latest initiative focused on combatting inequality and lifting up working families
NEW YORK—Mayor Bill de Blasio, in partnership with Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and Public Advocate Letitia James, announced on Thursday that New York is working to become the first City in the country to create a retirement savings program for private sector employees. The Mayor will highlight the announcement in his State of the City address – One New York: Working for Every Neighborhood – last evening.
“Fewer than half of all working New Yorkers have access to a retirement savings plan – and many who have started to save don’t have much. We won’t accept a status quo where people work all their lives only to be left with nothing,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “That’s why we’re working to become the first city in the country to create a retirement savings program for private sector employees.”
Most private sector workers in New York City do not have any access to a retirement savings program, and low-income, immigrant, minority, and female New Yorkers are disproportionately impacted.
Mayor de Blasio, Council Speaker Mark-Viverito, and Public Advocate James will draft legislation that would enable any New Yorker working at a business with ten or more employees to automatically enroll in an employee-funded retirement plan.
The City has also submitted comments to the U.S. Department of Labor in support of a federal rule change that would ensure cities could create retirement savings programs without liability or burdensome requirements.
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