Texas Retirement Savings Program: Opinions of Small Business Owners

Lona Choi-Allum, AARP Research

Published March 09, 2020

/ Updated March 30, 2021

This AARP survey explored the opinions of Texas small business owners or decision makers about employee benefits. Most agree that offering a voluntary, portable retirement savings option helps local small businesses attract and retain quality employees and stay competitive, but the coronavirus pandemic has had a significant impact on their opinions.

Just Released (March 30, 2021): Wave 2 Results

A survey of small business owners was fielded before the pandemic (January 30 to February 24, 2020) and after the pandemic had started (August 10 to September 4, 2020). Comparing the data from these surveys shows how Texas small business owners' opinions changed during the pandemic.

Nearly three in four small business owners expressed concern as taxpayers that some Texas residents have not saved enough money for retirement. Most think that more should be done to encourage Texas residents to save for retirement. During the pandemic, well over half said they were concerned that their employees did not have enough money to cover health care or living expenses when they retire, an increase of 7% from before the pandemic.

After the pandemic had begun, the percentage of small business owners who do not participate in or offer a retirement savings plan for their employees also increased significantly (66% to 73%). About three in five said they do not offer one because it's too costly, while more than a third said they are concerned about how complicated retirement plans are to operate. Thinking about how the COVID-19 pandemic affected small business owners and workers, most agreed (76%) that it is vital to have access to a retirement savings program.

Methodology

This AARP survey summarizes findings from Wave 2 of the 2020 AARP Survey of Small Business Owners in Texas fielded from August 10, 2020 to September 4, 2020, and includes a comparative look at results from Wave 1, fielded January 30, 2020 to February 24, 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic. The sample, including owner names and companies, came from a Dun & Bradstreet business list and is weighted to reflect the Dun & Bradstreet universe of businesses in Texas with 0-100 additional employees.

For more information about this survey, please contact Lona Choi-Allum at lallum@aarp.org. For media inquiries, contact media@aarp.org.

Suggested citation:

Choi-Allum, Lona. AARP Survey of Small Business Owners in Texas. Washington, DC: AARP Research, March 2021. https://doi.org/10.26419/res.00381.001

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