Pension Plan Structures Before and After the Pension Protection Act of 2006

This document is about an analysis of how defined contribution pension plan structures changed after the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA). The study uses restricted microdata from the National Compensation Survey to examine changes in provisions such as automatic enrollment, employer matching, and compliance with safe harbor requirements. The results show that autoenrollment rates, employer maximum contribution rates, and the likelihood of meeting safe harbor requirements increased after the PPA, though the difference-in-difference analysis suggests the PPA did not directly cause higher autoenrollment and takeup rates. The findings have implications for the retirement security of Americans as Social Security replaces a smaller share of pre-retirement earnings.