For some North Carolinians, the road to retirement is anything but even.
While some workers can count on employer-backed savings plans, nearly half of North Carolinians will be left navigating the path to their golden years without a map, according to an AARP analysis.
The AARP Policy Institute found that in 2020, over 48 percent of North Carolina’s private sector employees — roughly 1,823,000 people — were employed by a business that does not offer any type of retirement plan.
A proposal to help people save for retirement that’s before the General Assembly could help bridge that gap by giving hundreds of thousands of uncovered workers a clearer path toward financial security in their later years.
“It is a great way to not only save the state money, but really push for a kind of self-reliance, and encourage folks to create that culture of saving,” said Chris Brandenburg, North Carolina AARP manager of state and federal advocacy.
A 2021 Employee Benefit Research Institute study found that about 82 percent of employees with access to a retirement plan had more than $25,000 in total savings and investments, and 63 percent had $100,000 or more. However, only 28 percent of those without access to such a plan had over $25,000 saved, and only 9 percent had $100,000 or more.
House Bill 79 would provide the pathway to access through a public-private partnership retirement savings program. The “Work and Save” program would allow those who opt in to save directly through a payroll deduction before they even see their paycheck. Participation would be optional and free for small businesses, employees and even self-employed workers.
How it works, according to the bill:
- Each participant’s savings go into an individual retirement account (IRA) created under the program.
- By default, it’s a Roth IRA, though participants can later choose a traditional IRA instead.
- Contributions are deposited directly from payroll into the employee’s IRA.
- The money is professionally managed through private-sector investment managers selected by the North Carolina Small Business Retirement Savings Program Board.
- The funds are held in a trust, separate from the state’s general fund. The state, employers and the Board have no ownership of participant contributions or earnings — those belong entirely to the individual account holder.
The bill received a favorable response when presented by bill-sponsor and then-Rep. Jarrod Lowery (R-Lumberton) to a committee at the General Assembly in Raleigh in late June. But it has a long way to go before becoming law.
Lowery announced his resignation from the North Carolina General Assembly on the House floor on Sept. 23. The former member has taken a role with the U.S. Department of Interior, and his brother, John Lowery, has been recommended to serve the remainder of the term.
Down the path of other ‘Work and Saves’
During the hearing of the House Committee on Pensions and Retirement, few questions were raised, but one of them was about other states doing this sort of program.
It turns out 17 have enacted an auto-IRA program, and 11 of those are up and running. The first, Oregon Saves, launched in 2017. The application of the program is working differently in some states, according to AARP.
Oregon Saves enrolled nearly 118,000 people from more than 21,000 businesses, who saved collectively $200 million through the program in 2023, according to a news release by the state.
Across multiple state programs, the total assets in auto-IRA or state-automated savings plans have passed $2 billion as of mid-2025, according to the Center for Retirement Initiatives.
The center found that automatic enrollment tends to increase saving behavior among those who would otherwise not opt in, and that opt-outs are relatively low when the process is automatic.
North Carolina’s program would be opt-in, making it different from the 17 states that have programs in place. Therefore, it’s hard to compare what program participation and savings could be in North Carolina.
“I think this is just tremendously good public policy,” said Rep. Phil Rubin (D-Raleigh) during the committee hearing. He then asked whether it could be up and running before the proposed date of July 1, 2027.
Lowery answered that the date had been chosen to give enough time for a public awareness campaign, to get a board in place to oversee it and for creating the actual system to begin taking contributions.
The bill was passed on to the House Committee on Insurance on June 25, but there’s been no movement on the bill since.
Budget ties and savings
While HB79 is on hold, the conversation around it intersects with larger fiscal debates at the General Assembly. Lawmakers haven’t yet come to an agreement on a state budget proposal this year, so they passed a so-called mini-budget in June that funds only critical programs. That limited spending plan left the state’s Medicaid program with a shortfall that’s unresolved, spurring the state Department of Health and Human Services to cut rates to providers to keep the program solvent.
Even as those Medicaid rate cuts take effect, lawmakers are weighing how to balance immediate spending needs with long-term sustainability.
“This proposal, over 10 years, would save Medicaid a half a billion dollars,” said Steven Hahn, North Carolina AARP communications lead. “That's why it's timely now in this current federal debate as states are going to have to pay more. Where are we gonna get the money? Well, let's try to get people to have enough money that they're not collecting Medicaid.”
While helping more North Carolinians save for retirement could, over time, lessen reliance on public assistance programs — it also helps those retirees actually access those “golden years.”
“If you're just betting on Social Security — it's not enough to cover housing, medications and travel right now. And that means that something's gonna have to go lacking,” Lowery said. “If you're not able to cover the cost of housing, the cost of medication, the cost of travel, you're definitely not gonna be able to enjoy life, the fruits of your labor.
“This is the way to get North Carolinians more prepared for retirement, but also help the state's long term fiscal outlook.”
This article first appeared on North Carolina Health News and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
