美国国家公共电台 NPR Secure Act Aims To Help Americans Without Retirement Plans. W

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Only about half of working Americans currently get retirement¹ benefits through their employers. A new federal law takes effect this year to expand that. NPR's Yuki Noguchi reports that while the impact of that new law may be limited, states have been making more progress.

YUKI NOGUCHI, BYLINE²: The most powerful way to get people to save for retirement has been through benefits offered at their job. But David Certner, legislative³ counsel for AARP, says a lot of people don't have that.

DAVID CERTNER: Over 50 million workers right now don't have access to any retirement plan at all. The biggest area where there's a lack of coverage⁴ is among the small-employer sector⁵.

NOGUCHI: The reason, Certner says, is that many small businesses lack time and money to set such programs up. The new law, dubbed⁶ the Secure Act, aims to help with that. It allows smaller employers to band together to share administrative⁷ costs, making it cheaper and easier to offer retirement benefits.

But doing so is optional for employers, and it's not clear how many of them will take advantage of the rule change. Also, Certner says, the law won't address many other workers who aren't classified as employees.

CERTNER: We have contractors⁸ and members of the gig economy who, again, fall outside the scope of these kinds of arrangements in all likelihood.

NOGUCHI: Alicia Munnell directs the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. She says the fact that the federal bill passed with overwhelming bipartisan support is significant, but, she says, the changes themselves are modest. She notes the government has tried and largely failed to encourage more small businesses to offer retirement benefits.

ALICIA MUNNELL: I don't really think they're going to move the needle much at all. The bill addresses the big issues, but it takes baby, baby, baby steps.

NOGUCHI: These modest improvements include, for example, a requirement that employers offering retirement benefits also include part-time workers who've worked at least three years. Munnell says that could help about 4 million workers.

Munnell and other experts say much bigger changes to retirement law have been occurring at the state level. Ten states, including Oregon, California and Illinois, recently started requiring private employers to enroll⁹ their workers in individual retirement accounts if they don't offer their own benefits. Those state programs are expected to expand retirement savings¹⁰ to 15 million more people.

MUNNELL: Without a mandate¹¹, without somebody saying, Mr. Small Businessman, you have to do something for your employees, I don't think that we're going to see much change.

NOGUCHI: Which is why Munnell says she'd like to see such rules extend to all 50 states. Yuki Noguchi, NPR News, Washington.

(SOUNDBITE OF AVI BORTNICK'S "ABSINTHE")

1 retirement   

n.退休，退职

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 legislative   

n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的

参考例句：

• Congress is the legislative branch of the U.S. government.国会是美国政府的立法部门。
• Today's hearing was just the first step in the legislative process.今天的听证会只是展开立法程序的第一步。

4 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

5 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

6 dubbed   

v.给…起绰号( dub的过去式和过去分词 )；把…称为；配音；复制

参考例句：

• Mathematics was once dubbed the handmaiden of the sciences. 数学曾一度被视为各门科学的基础。
• Is the movie dubbed or does it have subtitles? 这部电影是配音的还是打字幕的？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 administrative   

adj.行政的，管理的

参考例句：

• The administrative burden must be lifted from local government.必须解除地方政府的行政负担。
• He regarded all these administrative details as beneath his notice.他认为行政管理上的这些琐事都不值一顾。

8 contractors   

n.（建筑、监造中的）承包人( contractor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We got estimates from three different contractors before accepting the lowest. 我们得到3个承包商的报价后，接受了最低的报价。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Contractors winning construction jobs had to kick back 2 per cent of the contract price to the mafia. 赢得建筑工作的承包商得抽出合同价格的百分之二的回扣给黑手党。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 enroll   

v.招收；登记；入学；参军；成为会员（英)enrol

参考例句：

• I should like to enroll all my children in the swimming class.我愿意让我的孩子们都参加游泳班。
• They enroll him as a member of the club.他们吸收他为俱乐部会员。

10 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

11 mandate   

n.托管地；命令，指示

参考例句：

• The President had a clear mandate to end the war.总统得到明确的授权结束那场战争。
• The General Election gave him no such mandate.大选并未授予他这种权力。