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- BUSINESS, Page 47Business NotesPENSIONSRetirement Relief
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- Comfortably escaping the grind of daily toil should be a
- pleasure, but for many Americans it isn't even a possibility.
- Without a pension -- which some 42 million U.S. workers lack --
- or adequate savings, retirement could rest on Social Security.
- Last week Labor Secretary Lynn Martin announced a plan -- dubbed
- Power, for Pension Opportunities for Workers' Expanded
- Retirement -- to help the pensionless.
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- Most of America's new jobs over the past several years
- have been in small businesses, more than half of which do not
- offer retirement benefits. Martin's proposal would eliminate
- much of the paperwork for companies with 100 or fewer
- employees, encouraging them to set up plans. Employers would
- have to contribute 2% of an employee's pay, and a worker could
- contribute up to about $4,200 on a pretax basis, as much as 50%
- of which could be matched by the employer. The proposal also
- takes a step toward portable pensions: workers who change jobs
- could transfer pension benefits by telling their new employer
- to roll the money into an IRA. Since the plan is more modest
- than earlier efforts, chances for congressional approval look
- good.
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