Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Retirement Outcomes: Impacts of Outreach

Abstract

We review select literature on racial and ethnic disparities in retirement outcomes in the United States and the impact of outreach on such outcomes. First, there are significant disparities in retirement outcomes, reflecting a long history of racism and structural barriers. Second, there is comparatively little work on the differential impact of retirement outreach across race and ethnicity. Future work should consider designing interventions that cater to the needs of specific demographic groups, for example, by embracing the fact that Blacks, Hispanics, and Whites acquire retirement information from different sources. Future work should also incorporate behavioral insights, particularly from prior interventions, and innovate on methodologies for data collection, linking, and analysis.