Labor Secretary Issues Challenge: Increase Retirement Savings and Security

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

WASHINGTON – Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao addressed a crowd of 250 leaders in the retirement savings community today, challenging them to find ways to encourage Americans to save. Chao is the host of the congressionally-mandated “Saver Summit.”

“There’s no question that Americans are world-class consumers. Our challenge is to make them better savers,” Chao said. “We’re asking the financial and demographic experts gathered at the SAVER Summit to design generation-specific strategies that will promote individual savings throughout people’s lifetimes.”

Chao went on to say: “In the wake of Enron, we need to strengthen the security of Americans’ retirement savings by giving workers more choice, confidence and control over their retirement accounts. If people aren’t assured that their retirement savings are safe, they will be less inclined to save in the first place.”

In 1997, Congress passed the Savings Are Vital to Everyone’s Retirement Act (the SAVER Act of 1997), specifying that the President convene three national summits on retirement savings. The first summit was held in June 1998. Today’s summit attracted insurance, investment and other business executives, labor union leaders, academics and elected officials. The third summit is expected in 2005.

President George W. Bush’s retirement security package was outlined by Chao as well. “The President’s initiative will help workers who wish to diversity their portfolios – a step which, for most individual investors, is key to reducing risk over the long term… and under the Bush plan, for the first time, when an employer contributes company stock to a worker’s 401(k), that worker would have the right, the absolute right to sell that stock after a three-year period.”

President George W. Bush joined Secretary Chao in hosting and speaking at the summit. Other featured speakers included Secretary of Commerce Don Evans, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, Senator Edward Kennedy and Congressman John Boehner.

For more information on the Saver Summit, please visit the Saver Summit homepage at http://www.saversummit.dol.gov/. The 2002 Saver Summit Final Report may be viewed at http://www.dol.gov/EBSA/PDF/SummitFinalReport.pdf.

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.