{
  "id": 15793013,
  "title": "Retirement used to be a big-company perk",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/20/retirement-used-to-be-a-big-company-perk",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-10-20T18:56:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Fast Company",
    "slug": "fast-company",
    "url": "https://www.fastcompany.com/91625363/retirement-used-to-be-a-big-company-perk"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Retirement plans were once reserved for employees of large corporations, but this trend has shifted significantly in recent years. Now, even small businesses with only a few employees are offering retirement benefits, driven by changes in policy, technology, and labor market dynamics. From 2019 to 2026, the adoption rate of retirement plans for businesses with two to 99 employees increased by 64%, with the smallest employers driving much of this growth. Industries such as hospitality, recreation, and agriculture have also contributed to this shift, with hourly workers experiencing a 79% rise in retirement plan access since 2019. This change is largely attributed to factors such as state auto-IRA mandates, the expansion of tax credits under SECURE 2.0, and the adoption of payroll-embedded benefits. However, there is still work to be done to ensure that hourly workers and small businesses with no tax liability can fully benefit from these new retirement savings opportunities. To achieve this, steps such as raising awareness about available tax credits, passing the RISE Act to allow businesses with no tax liability to claim credits, extending state mandates across the nation, and building momentum around the Saver's Match can be taken.",
  "summary": "For a long time, access to a retirement plan was something employees got by working at a larger company. If someone wanted a 401(k), they probably needed a company large enough to have an HR department and its own benefits administrator. Many small businesses assumed prices were too high, with too much admin overhead, so many didn’t bother to offer one. That assumption held for decades. However,…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}