Survey Finds Savings Shortfall : Retirement: U.S. workers socking away more, but not enough to maintain living standards.

Many full-time American workers, despite a hefty increase in retirement savings this year, are still not putting away enough to maintain their living standards when they stop working, a privately funded survey found.

The fourth annual Workplace Pulse survey released Tuesday found that working Americans had boosted their annual savings by 21.6%, to $2,160.

The increase reversed a two-year downward trend after savings reached $2,688 in 1992. They fell to $1,932 in 1993 and $1,776 in 1994.

“This is good news for workers who expect to enjoy a retirement standard of living close to what they have had when working,” said Bill Bennett, a spokesman for the survey.

“However, workers are still not saving as much as they were in 1992,” he added. “After years of declining savings, the key question is, ‘Will middle-aged and older workers be able to make up the deficit?’ Unfortunately, the outlook is bleak.”

Meanwhile, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. said federal guarantees for troubled pension plans will increase more than 2.6% next year, slightly less than the 2.9% inflation rate.

A retiree whose pension fund ran short of money could receive up to $31,704 next year from the PBGC, up from $30,886 this year.

The PBGC guarantee applies only to retirees who belonged to underfunded single-employer pension funds that pay a promised amount, or defined benefit.

Annual adjustments in the maximum guaranteed payment are made under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, or ERISA. The adjustment is based on changes in the amounts workers and their companies contribute to Social Security, as well as other factors.

For years, government officials and private economists have expressed concerns about Americans’ savings rates. They contend that most retirement plans are like a three-legged stool--made up of Social Security benefits, employer retirement plans and personal savings.

But a Labor Department study of 1994 Census Bureau data found that 56% of the 13.2 million retirees 65 and older receive no pension income other than Social Security.

The Workplace Pulse survey found that 71% of Americans working full time acknowledge that they are saving too little for retirement. Only 24% think they are saving about the correct amount.

The survey found that all income groups increased their savings last year. But the largest increase was among workers 25 to 34, who are saving 33% more this year than they did last year--$1,740, compared with $1,308 in 1994.

Workers 35 to 44 are saving 21% more this year--$2,088, compared with $1,728 in 1994--and workers age 45 to 64 are saving 5% more--$2,844, compared with $2,706 in 1994.

The average total retirement savings from all sources for those age 45 to 64 is only $109,075, the survey found, far less than necessary to meet expected needs.

Workplace Pulse estimates that workers with no other income, including Social Security, would need $268,068 to retire at 65 with a $24,000 annual income.

The telephone survey of 1,000 full-time workers was conducted Nov. 7-10 by Pulse Surveys of America Inc. for Colonial Life & Accident Insurance Co. and the Employers Council on Flexible Compensation.

The council is a nonprofit membership association formed in 1981 by several Fortune 500 companies to study and promote 401(k) and other elective retirement plans.