State and Local Employees Views on Their Jobs, Pay and Benefits
At a time when state and local governments are struggling to attract and retain employees to deliver vital taxpayer services, a new national poll finds that retirement and healthcare benefits are critically important job features, more so than salary. These benefits are viewed as a powerful recruitment and retention tool, with nearly all state and […]
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Financial Asset Inequality and Its Implications for Retirement Security
A new research brief finds that financial asset inequality among Americans continues to increase, and the inequality is consistent across generations. This wealth inequality, combined with dangerously low retirement savings among most households, poses a significant threat to retirement for working Americans. The new analysis indicates that from 2004 to 2016, the share of financial […]
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Enduring Challenges: Examining the Experiences of States that Closed Pension Plans
A new series of case studies finds that states that shifted new employees from defined benefit pensions to defined contribution or cash balance plans experienced increased costs for taxpayers, without major improvements in funding. The research also indicates that the move away from pensions cuts employees’ retirement security and that employers may face increasing challenges […]
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Retirement Insecurity 2019: Americans’ Views of the Retirement Crisis
New public opinion research finds that Americans are united in their concern about retirement. In overwhelming numbers, Americans say the nation faces a retirement crisis, with Democrats at 80 percent, Republicans at 75 percent, and Independents at 75 percent. These findings are contained in a new research, Retirement Insecurity 2019: Americans’ Views of the Retirement […]
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Pensionomics 2018: Measuring the Economic Impact of Defined Benefit Pension Expenditures
Economic gains attributable to defined benefit (DB) pensions in the U.S. are substantial. Retiree spending of pension benefits in 2016 generated $1.2 trillion in total economic output, supporting some 7.5 million jobs across the U.S. Pension spending also added a total of $202.6 billion to government coffers, as taxes were paid at federal, state and […]
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Teacher Pensions vs. 401(k)s in Six States: Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri and Texas
A new report finds that teacher pension plans play a critical role in retaining educators while also providing greater retirement security than 401(k)-style retirement accounts. Eight out of ten educators serving in the six states studied can expect to collect pension benefits that are greater in value than what they could receive under an idealized […]
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