Despite a number of campaigns to raise awareness of the importance of saving for retirement, pension cover has shown only a slight increase in the last two years.
According to the latest quarterly national household survey, just over half of those in employment had pension coverage in the first quarter of 2004, slightly higher than the 51.2 per cent recorded in the first quarter of 2002.
Overall pension cover for the self-employed and those assisting relatives is estimated to have fallen slightly since 2002 from 44.1 per cent to 43.1 per cent. In contrast, pension cover for employees is estimated to have increased from 52.8 per cent to 54.4 per cent.
The proportion of employees with only a personal pension increased from 5.5 per cent to 6.3 per cent, while the proportion of employees with only an occupational pension fell from 43.7 per cent to 40.4 per cent.
However, the percentage of employees reporting both occupational and personal pension cover more than doubled from 3.6 per cent to 7.7per cent. This increase is likely to have been caused by the introduction of PRSAs since the last survey in 2002.
The coverage rate for workers aged 20-24 remains the lowest among all age groups and is estimated to have fallen slightly from 25.2 per cent to 23.2 per cent.
Cover remains highest for workers aged 35-44, at 62.2per cent, up from 60.4per cent in 2002.
Male workers (56.3 per cent) continue to have a higher rate of coverage than females (46.8 per cent) as women tend to work in the services or in part-time work where pension cover is not the norm.