Auto-IRA Laws Spread as States Cope with Lack of Federal Mandate

New York City has become the latest jurisdiction to pass a law requiring employers to automatically enroll workers in retirement savings accounts, part of a growing number of states and municipalities to enact the rules in lieu of a federal mandate despite criticism from business groups.

The city’s automatic-individual retirement account program passed last week was modeled after systems operating in California, Illinois, and Oregon. Now, five other states and two cities are in the process of setting up nearly identical mandatory programs that automatically enroll all private-sector workers into government-managed long-term savings accounts.

Nearly half of the American workforce ...