TSP participation holds steady amid economic downturn

Federal employees continue to contribute to the Thrift Savings Plan despite the recession, according to TSP officials.

"I think it's not going to come as a surprise to anyone that February had a negative impact on overall balances," said Renee Wilder, director of the TSP's Office of Research and Strategic Planning. Balances dropped from $197.1 billion at the end of January to $191.6 billion by February's close, noted Wilder. "Contributions continue to hold and are looking actually pretty strong. Our participation rate is still holding at about 84 percent. Our participants are not stopping their contributions in response to the impact of the market."

The percentage of active-duty members of the uniformed forces participating in the TSP (which also includes the Public Health Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) rose from 36.3 percent in January to 36.9 in February. But Alejandro Sanchez, a member of the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, criticized the Army in particular for its participation rate, saying the service was not doing enough to educate members about the TSP.

"I recently met with 12 high-ranking Army personnel, and I would say of the 12, 10 didn't know about the TSP," Sanchez said. The Army is the largest branch of the armed services, and as of February 2009, reported 201,327 active-duty and ready reserve employees enrolled in the TSP, or 18.8 percent of the total number of employees eligible for participation.

Even though participants are keeping their money in the TSP, Tom Trabucco, director of external affairs for the plan, said the Employee Thrift Advisory Council had expressed concerns about a proposal to automatically enroll new federal employees in the plan. The thrift board's initial proposal would have set automatic contributions to go into the life-cycle funds, which shift from more aggressive to more conservative investments as those employees near retirement. The advisory council was concerned that using the L funds as a default would put enrollees' funds at risk during a turbulent economic time.

Reps. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., and Henry Waxman, D-Calif., have introduced legislation that would automatically enroll new federal employees in the TSP, and invest their contributions in the government securities, or G Fund, considered the most stable of the plan's offerings. Trabucco said employee concerns influenced the decision to default to the G Fund.

Board Chairman Andrew Saul said the TSP should consult with the employee advisory council before giving Congress a formal opinion on the pending legislation, especially given the economic climate. The TSP still is considering whether it will endorse other provisions of the legislation that give participants the option to invest in a Roth Individual Retirement Account, or allow the TSP to create some additional funds.

"I don't think we should recommend anything to Congress now without ETAC signing off on it," Saul said. "I think that would be wrong. The unions have a lot to say, and we really have to take that into consideration."