The retirement gap between US employers and their workers

 A new report highlights a striking divide in how U.S. employers and employees view retirement readiness.

PNC Bank's annual Financial Wellness in the Workplace Report found that while 78 percent of employers believed their workers were prepared for retirement, 45 percent of employees felt the same.

That gap reflects a broader shift in the U.S.'s retirement landscape. Over the past few decades, the responsibility for securing a financially stable retirement has moved away from employers and toward workers themselves. While companies measure readiness by the existence of benefit offerings, employees are more focused on whether those savings will be enough to cover decades of living expenses.

In the United States, most retirement saving happens through employer-sponsored plans. The most common is the 401(k), where employees set aside pretax or Roth contributions, often with an employer match. Nonprofit organizations and schools typically provide 403(b) plans, while state and local governments use 457(b) plans.

Federal employees have access to the Thrift Savings Plan. Some unionized and government jobs still offer traditional pensions that guarantee fixed monthly payments, though these are now rare in the private sector. Smaller businesses often choose SIMPLE or SEP individual retirement accounts because they are easier to administer, and some companies provide alternatives such as profit-sharing plans, hybrid cash balance plans or employee stock ownership plans.