No Quick Fix: Closing a Public Pension Plan Leads to Unexpected Challenges
No Quick Fix: Closing a Public Pension Plan Leads to Unexpected Challenges tracks the experience of five states that shifted new employees away from defined benefit (DB) pensions to defined contribution (DC) or cash balance plans. Among states that switched to a DC plan, costs rose, negative cash flow grew, and employee turnover increased. Additionally, […]
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Closing the Gap: The Role of Public Pensions in Reducing Retirement Inequality
Closing the Gap: The Role of Public Pensions in Reducing Retirement Inequality finds that defined benefit pensions play a critical role in delivering adequate retirement income for older Americans while providing a key buffer against economic hardship for women, Blacks, Latinos, and those without a four-year college degree. The report also finds that the wealth […]
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The Forgotten Generation: Generation X Approaches Retirement
Generation X often is referred to as the forgotten generation, sandwiched between the large and culturally powerful Baby Boomer and Millennial generations. Today, Generation X commands less attention than Boomers and Millennials from both researchers and the media. A groundbreaking new report aimed at correcting this oversight, at least in terms of assessing the retirement […]
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Alaska Teacher Recruitment and Retention Study: Options and Analysis Supporting Retirement Plan Design
A report delivered to the Alaska Department of Education reviews the impacts of various retirement benefit offerings on the recruitment and retention of Alaska’s public education employees. Alaska Teacher Recruitment and Retention Study: Options and Analysis Supporting Retirement Plan Design, finds that switching Alaska’s public employees from defined benefit pension plans to 401(k)-style defined contribution […]
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A Vanishing Benefit: Why Social Security’s Special Minimum Benefit is Fading Away
This research provides an overview of the special minimum benefit, an alternative Social Security formula that was initially passed by Congress in 1972 to set a benefit “floor” and protect workers from experiencing severe poverty in retirement. To be eligible, workers must have a record of 11 years or more of covered employment and must […]
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Pensionomics 2023: Measuring the Economic Impact of Defined Benefit Pension Expenditures
Economic gains attributable to private and public sector defined benefit pensions in the U.S. during the COVID-19 pandemic were substantial, according to Pensionomics 2023: Measuring the Economic Impact of Defined Benefit Pension Expenditures. This report calculates the national economic impacts of U.S pension plans, as well as the impact of state and local plans on […]
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