Retirement savings among U.S. older adult male workers by paid sick leave, flexible work, and vacation benefit status

Abstract

ABSTRACT Using a nationally representative sample from the 2012 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, this study evaluates the retirement savings of 994 older male US workers (ages 47–55) by their access to flextime, paid sick leave and vacation time. After controlling for 12 demographic, education, household, and work-related variables, when measured dichotomously, multiple regression findings indicated workers with flexible work time enjoyed a 24.8% increase in retirement savings compared to those who did not have flexible work time, and workers with paid sick leave had retirement savings 29.6% higher than those workers who lacked paid sick leave benefits. Further, when paid sick leave and vacation time were measured ordinally, workers with six to 10 paid sick leave days and workers with more than 10 paid sick days annually had a statistically significantly higher (30.1% and 40.7%, respectively) amount in their retirement savings. Statistically significant decreases in retirement savings were observed for workers with 1–5 vacation days annually. These robust findings suggest the provision of flextime and paid sick leave benefits may affect retirement savings among older adult male workers. Implications for policy are set forth.