About 2% of large employers have cut or suspended 401(k) matching contributions in the past few months, and 5% say they plan to do so this year.
Researchers at Hewitt Associates Inc., Lincolnshire, Ill., have published those figures in a summary of results from a recent survey of about 150 large and midsize employers.
About 51% of the employers surveyed already offer an automatic enrollment program. An employer that adopts auto enrollment makes matching contributions even for employees who have not taken active steps to enroll in a plan.
The percentage of employers without auto enrollment programs that said they are somewhat or very likely to add auto enrollment for new hires has fallen to 25%.