WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama, noting that millions of Americans do not have enough savings to cover their retirement, announced a package of initiatives yesterday to spur increased savings.

The administrative actions, which do not require new legislation from Congress, are intended to make it easier and more automatic for people to put money into tax-advantaged retirement accounts.

"The fact is, even before this recession hit, the savings rate was essentially zero, while borrowing had risen and credit card debt had increased," Mr. Obama said in his weekly radio address. "Half of America's work force doesn't have access to a retirement plan at work. And fewer than 10 percent of those without workplace retirement plans have one of their own."

Mr. Obama outlined four new initiatives, all of which are based on new behavioral research on ways to encourage people to save in a systematic way.

One key finding in that research is that people are more likely to contribute to a retirement savings account, like an employer-sponsored 401(k) plan, if they are enrolled automatically. Workers have usually had to sign up for the plan, something that large percentages of people either postponed or never did at all.

Under automatic enrollment plans, employees are automatically signed up unless they explicitly ask not to participate.

Many large and medium-size companies have already adopted automatic enrollment plans, but White House officials said the new initiative was aimed at very small firms that often use a simpler system called the "simple IRA."

Under the new initiative, the Labor Department will publish new guidance for small businesses on how to use automatic enrollment for the simplified plans. It will also encourage employers to institute an automatic "step up," which increases a person's saving rate each year or with each raise.

In a second move, Mr. Obama said the Internal Revenue Service would allow people to check a box on their tax returns and receive their tax refunds in the form of U.S. savings bonds. White House officials said there are about 100 million tax refunds each year, and the average is about $2,000.

In a third change, the government will make it easier for employees to contribute the money for unused vacation time and overtime to their retirement accounts. At the moment, most employers simply cash out the extra time and give the money to their workers.

First Published: September 6, 2009, 4:45 a.m.