A report released today by the TIAA-CREF Institute and the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies reveals that both African-American and white employees in the education sector feel confident about retirement, but that more planning may be needed.

The report, “Retirement Confidence in the Education Sector: Comparisons by Race,” analyzed data for more than 2,000 employees in the education sector --administrators, staff and teachers or faculty at both the K-12 level and the post-secondary level -- on their attitudes, behaviors and preferences toward retirement. The study also analyzed how these attributes vary by race.   

According to the report, a significant majority of both African-American and white education-sector employees voice high levels of confidence regarding retirement planning:

• Approximately 90 percent of each group is currently saving for retirement.
• Nearly 80 percent of each group is confident they are investing their savings appropriately.
• About 70 percent of each group is confident they will have enough money to live comfortably during retirement.

Moreover, a majority of each group feels confident they will not outlive their savings. That said, approximately half have determined how much they actually need to save to achieve this goal.

“It is encouraging to see that retirement confidence levels are fairly high among education-sector employees,” said Stephanie Bell-Rose, senior managing director and head of the TIAA-CREF Institute. “However, it is critical that this confidence is translated into retirement readiness, which can best be achieved by investing in financial education and awareness programs, as well as increasing access to financial advice.”

---

"The study confirms that the key challenges in retirement planning among education employees are essentially the same across African-American and white populations,” said Ralph B. Everett, president and CEO of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. "Too many are uncertain of how much money they need to save for a comfortable retirement, and too many feel that they are not saving enough. These are challenges we must address so that more workers can achieve a financially secure retirement."

Read the entire press release by clicking the icon below.

During the economic doldrums that have followed The Great Recession, employees in the education sector (administrators, staff, and teachers or faculty at both the K-12 level and the post-secondary level) are confident about both their retirement savings behavior and their likely retirement outcomes. African American and white American employees in the education sector are more optimistic about their retirement planning and prospects than are U.S. workers overall. Further examination of the high degree of retirement confidence among employees in the education sector, however, yields conflicting insights. This report, produced jointly by TIAA-CREF and the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, examines the retirement goals, fears, and confidence of African American and white workers in the education sector.

This Issue Brief, one of a series on African American employment that the Joint Center will publish in the coming months, is also Part 1 of a larger Joint Center report entitled, “Building a Healthy Economy: Creating Employment Opportunity and Equity.” This brief examines and analyzes data from the 25 states with substantial African American populations. Subsequent briefs will focus on data from the 18 cities with African American mayors and African American populations over 100,000 and on industries and occupations with significant employment opportunities for African Americans. Additional elements of the report will include components on emerging health sector employment opportunities as a result of the Affordable Care Act, green jobs related to energy efficiency, and the Internet’s impact on job search.

For more detailed information on the 25 states included in this study, download the appendix.

The Joint Center will hold an Issue Briefing and Panel Discussion entitled Building a Healthy Economy: Creating Employment Equity and Opportunity on Thursday, April 4, 2013, at the Joint Center's conference center in Washington, DC. This briefing will explore the issue of job creation in African American and Latino communities, from current employment rates among minorities to sectors that could help underserved groups get back to work. Findings from two new reports will be presented: Further to Go: Job Creation in African American Communities and Infrastructure Investments and Latino and African American Job Creation.

Confirmed panelists include:

Cynthia G. Marshall
Senior Vice President of Human Resources, AT&T
Chair, Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies Board of Governors

Ralph B. Everett
President & CEO, Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies

Algernon Austin, Ph.D.
Director, Economic Policy Institute, Program on Race, Ethnicity, and the Economy

To register for this panel, please click the REGISTER button to your right. Registration ends on April 3, 2013.

Dr. Wilhelmina Leigh joins the United States Government Office of Personnel Management for a discussion on retirement savings and economic empowerment for people of color.

On Capitol Hill, there are two ways that people tend to talk about the sequester -- a slate of automatic federal spending cuts that are difficult but necessary, or a blunt tool that will inflict tremendous suffering.

But a growing chorus of researchers, political analysts and economists say that the cuts are poised to inflict particularly intense pain on people of color and impede the country’s ability to prosper as these populations grow.

“What you will keep hearing is that it is a little to early to know exactly what is going to happen. And I agree. But I think there are certainly a number of areas where you can expect a disproportionate impact on black and Latino families," said Margaret C. Simms, a fellow at the Urban Institute think tank in Washington, D.C., and director of its Low-Income Working Families Project. "What we are talking about is taking the existing inequalities this country has and really making them worse, much worse.”

If the Obama administration and Congress fail to reach an agreement to modify the slate of automatic spending cuts, as much as $900 million could be cut from Head Start, a federal early education program aimed at helping low-income children keep pace with their peers in school, according to a February analysis by the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning think tank. Losing those funds means that as many as 700,000 children in need of Head Start services may not be able to enroll. A full 60 percent of children enrolled in Head Start are black, Latino or Asian.  

---

The sequester is also slated to cut funding for medical research, community health centers that provide care to low-income and uninsured individuals and programs that cover the costs of child vaccinations. These cuts will disproportionately affect people of color, said Brian D. Smedley, vice president and director of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies’ Health Policy Institute.

"Sequestration results in significant cuts to very important programs that again, in my view, are likely to widen the health gaps rather than close our fiscal hole," Smedley said.

Read more at The Huffington Post.

Dr. Brian Smedley spoke on the effect a federal government sequestration can and will have on health and other programs that assist a large number of people of color during a Joint Center panel discussion on February 28, 2013.

Dr. Wilhelmina Leigh spoke on the whys and hows of Social Security modernization at the National Academy of Social Insurance's 25th Annual Policy Research Conference on January 31, 2013.

More presentations, videos, and other conference materials can be found on the NASI website.

One day before $85 billion worth of automatic, across-the-board cuts to domestic and defense programs kicked in, a panel of five policy experts painted a dire picture of the effects on communities of color, including Latinos, Native Americans, Asians and African Americans.

One specialist, Ellen Nissenbaum, senior vice president for Government Affairs at the Center on Budget & Policy Priorities in Northwest, said sequestration could have been avoided.

"This is absolutely a man-made creation. We didn't ever foresee sequestration which is the victory of their goals," she said of the Republicans in Congress who refused to come to an agreement with President Barack Obama and their Democratic counterparts. "Everyone agreed to 10 years with a hammer. But the hammer is so attractive to some representatives."

---

At an event hosted by the Northwest-based Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, titled, "The Impact of Sequestration on the Health and Well-Being of Communities of Color", panelists said minority communities who depend on federal assistance programs will be disproportionately affected.

"While most Americans will feel the impact of the sequestration, it will have a devastating effect on communities of color as the budget axe falls on programs that many low-income people rely upon to stay healthy," said Ralph B. Everett, president and CEO of the Joint Center at the March 1 discussion. "To pull the rug out from under them would not be wise. Without investment today, we will pay a higher price down the road."

Read more at The Washington Informer.

Dr. Wilhelmina Leigh discusses retirement preparations for people aged 45 to 65 on Beyond 50 Transformation: Innovation for the Aging Process.

This interview and more Beyond 50 archives can be found at AM 950.