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Press Statement

Preasráiteas

27 January 2022

Press Statement Pension Coverage 2021

Two-thirds of workers have some form of pension coverage (outside of State pension)
  • In Quarter 3 2021, pension coverage remained lowest among younger workers – one quarter (25%) of workers aged 20 to 24 years had a pension, up one percentage point from 2020 (24%)
  • Pension coverage was greatest among workers aged 45 to 54 years where more than three-quarters of persons in employment (77%) had supplementary pension coverage
  • For employees with occupational pensions from their current employment, the number with ‘defined benefit’ pensions decreased in 2021 (28% compared with 34% in 2020), while the number with ‘defined contribution’ pensions increased to 69% from 64% in 2020
  • For those workers with no occupational pension coverage from their current employment, more than half (53%) stated that their employer does not offer a pension scheme
  • Of employees with no supplementary pension cover, four in 10 (40%) cited affordability as the main reason, while 45% stated that they never got around to organising it or would organise it at a future date
  • The State Pension was cited as the expected main source of income on retirement for almost 50%of workers with no pension coverage, while more than three in 10 (31%) had not yet decided what their main source of income would be

Go to release: Pension Coverage 2021

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (27 January 2022) published the results of the Pensions Survey which was carried out in Quarter 3 (July to September) of 2021.

Commenting on the report, Maureen Delamere, Statistician said:

“The results in this publication cover pension provision outside of the State pension. Of persons in employment in Quarter 3 2021, around two-thirds (66%) had pension coverage of some form (outside of the State pension), up one percentage point from 2020.

Pension coverage in 2021 followed the same trend as in 2020 where pension coverage was lowest among younger workers. Just over a quarter (25%) of workers in the 20 to 24 years age group had pension coverage. Supplementary pension coverage increases with age, with almost 74% of the oldest age group surveyed, persons aged 55-69 years, having supplementary pension cover. Most supplementary pension cover is with defined contribution (69% of pensions) rather than defined benefit (28% of pensions).

Nearly half (47%) of older workers aged 55 to 69 years have been in their current occupational pension scheme for 20 years or more, compared with just over one in 12 (9%) of persons aged between 35 and 44 years.

Analysis of pension coverage by broad occupational groups shows that workers whose occupation was classified as “Professionals” had the highest pension coverage rate (81% of persons working in this area), whereas, just over four in 10 (43%) of workers whose broad occupational group was “Skilled trades” had pension coverage. The economic sector with the highest pension coverage in Quarter 3 2021 was “Public administration & defence; compulsory social security” (95%).

Of employees who had no supplementary pension cover, 40% cited the affordability of pensions as the main reason for not having pension cover, while a further 45% stated that they never got around to organising it or would organise pension provision at a future date.

For workers (including self-employed), the State Pension was cited as the expected main source of income on retirement for half (50%) of workers with no pension coverage, while more than three in 10 (31%) had not yet decided on this issue.”

Editor's Note:

Users should note that the mode of data collection for this survey in 2021 has changed from a mixed-mode data collection model where both CAPI (Computer Assisted Personal (face to face) Interviewing) and CATI (Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing) were used. However, due to the social distancing measures introduced in Ireland because of COVID-19, the CSO had to suspend direct face-to-face interviews. Consequently, all interviews for this survey were carried out by telephone. Users should note that there does seem to be modal effects in the data as a result of this change in data collection mode.

Also, while the data collection for this survey was expanded in 2021 to cover persons in current employment and also persons not presently in employment but who had previous employments, who may or may not have been laid off due to COVID, this publication focuses primarily on persons in employment. As for CSO Earnings and Labour Costs publications during the pandemic, it is likely there are compositional effects in the data between 2019, 2020 and 2021 also – the composition of the workforce changing in 2020/2021 due to COVID-19. This may have impacted on calculated pension rates.

For further information contact:

Maureen Delamere (+353) 21 453 5081 or Caroline Barrett (+353) 21 453 5485

or email socialmodules@cso.ie

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