The Fact
In BLS employee-benefit statistics, “access” means a benefit plan is available for an employee to use. “Participation” means the employee is actually participating under the plan’s rules. A worker can therefore have access to a retirement plan without participating in it.
What This Means
A statistic saying workers have access to a retirement plan does not mean all of those workers are contributing to or building retirement assets in that plan.
Sources
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Compensation Survey Glossary of Employee Benefit Terms. Accessed October 2, 2026. https://www.bls.gov/ebs/