Six Years After OregonSaves Launch, Workers Have Saved More than $200M for Retirement

Beaver State lawmakers built a retirement savings program for Oregonians who do not have access to a retirement benefit at work, and it has driven denizens to save enough to recently surpass a retirement savings milestone, according to data released this week from the Oregon Retirement Savings Board and Oregon State Treasurer Tobias Read.  

OregonSaves, the auto-enrollment retirement savings program, now holds  $200 million saved for retirement by Oregonians, state officials announced in a press release. More than 118,000 workers from more than 21,00 businesses have saved for retirement  statewide in the program . OregonSaves was launched in July 2017.   

“Six years ago, Oregon made history,” Read, chair of the Oregon Retirement Savings Board, stated in the release. “We started with the belief that everyone should have an easy way to save for their retirement at work. Every Oregonian now has that opportunity. OregonSaves is delivering, and it’s more than a visionary Oregon idea—it has served as inspiration for other states—with more than $800 [million] saved nationally for a more secure future.”

Market research found the program was needed because as many as 1 million Oregonians—representing nearly half the workforce—lacked access to a workplace-based retirement plan, according to the release.

The retirement savings program, like an employer-sponsored 401(k) or IRA, allows working individuals the option to save their own money for retirement via pre-tax payroll deductions, without requiring employers to create plans or pay any fees.

OregonSaves has demonstrated success by several measures, with approximately 75% of employees electing to stay in the program; workers saving at a higher percentage of pay than anticipated (an average of $171 per month); and millions of dollars saved by workers new to retirement savings, the release stated.

The program was launched with a pilot phase and has expanded statewide in waves—starting with the largest employers—culminating in this month’s rollout to the sixth and final group of employers: those with four or fewer employees.