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Abstract: How do workers value retirement benefits relative to wages and what impact do these benefits have on firm hiring? I find that dollars paid in employer contributions to 401(k) plans have nearly double the effect on a firm's recruiting success than dollars paid in wages. However, there is significant heterogeneity in the effect of employer contributions across the income and age distribution: the effect is driven primarily by high-income and higher-age occupations. Since firms endogenously select their compensation bundles to attract their desired workers, I use two novel instruments to identify the results: 1) IRS mandated non-discrimination testing of retirement plans and 2) corporate policies of national wage setting. I then develop and estimate an on-the-job search model which shows that the average worker requires only a 0.25 percentage point increase in employer contribution dollars to offset a 1% decrease in wages. Moreover, moving from a job with no retirement plan to a job with a plan increases valuations by the same magnitude as 2% increase in wages. Again, retirement valuations are positively correlated with salary. I confirm the channel in an online survey setting: participants are willing to give up total pay to get a higher employer match to get a non-matching employer-sponsored 401(k). The results imply that 80% of firms in the estimation sample could improve their probability of a job offer being accepted by increasing 401(k) contributions.