State and Local Retirement Plans in the United States

2011-01-01
 |  Business & Economics
State and Local Retirement Plans in the United States

Author: Robert L. Clark

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN: 9780857930590

Category: Business & Economics

Page: 240

View: 722

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State and Local Retirement Plans in the United States explains how economic and political events have shaped the development of pension plans in the last century, and it argues that changes in the structure and generosity of these plans will continue to shape policy and funding in the future. It also brings to bear a new rationale to the policies behind public sector pension plans. The authors use the history of how early public pension plans were established, how they matured and how they have grown in generosity to analyze what changes may be expected in years to come. Unique in its scope, this comprehensive history of the development of public sector pension plans in the United States during the twentieth century expands upon current ideas relating to the changing economic environment, the passage and evolution of social security, and the expansion of the public sector. With the exception of military pension plans, which date from the eighteenth century, the first public sector plans, dating from the late nineteenth century, were established to cover teachers, police officers and fire fighters in large cities. Over time, these retirement plans were extended to other public sector workers and the local plans were often merged with plans for state workers; all of these date from the twentieth century. Here, the authors show just how pension coverage for public sector workers expanded steadily, through the first half of the twentieth century, so that by the 1960s the vast majority of public sector workers were covered by a plan. This analysis demonstrates how economic events and shifts in public policy at the federal, state, and local levels helped to shape public sector retirement plans. The authors also compare public plans with private sector plans, and the final chapter focuses on recent changes in public pensions in response to the 'Great Recession', concurrent sharp declines in equity markets and the aging of the public workforce.

State and Local Pension Plans

1995
 |  Civil service
State and Local Pension Plans

Author: Olivia S. Mitchell

Publisher:

ISBN: UOM:39015037285437

Category: Civil service

Page: 40

View: 648

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This paper examines the role and function of pension plans covering state and local government employees in the United States. Covering about 16 million employees (including teachers, fire fighters, police, members of the judiciary, and many other state and local employees), these plans manage a substantial stock of financial assets -- close to $1 trillion -- and receive annual contributions from employees and government revenues totaling about $56 billion. Using data gathered from a variety of different sources, some of which have only recently become available, we describe the benefits, financing, and management of these plans, and identify some of the prominent challenges facing these pension plans in the next decade.

State and Local Government Pension Plans

2013-08-28
 |  Political Science
State and Local Government Pension Plans

Author: Government Accountability Office

Publisher: CreateSpace

ISBN: 1492228494

Category: Political Science

Page: 54

View: 472

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There are over 3,400 state and local pension systems in the United States, according to the most recent Census Bureau Survey of State and Local Public-Employee Retirement Systems. Most large plans are state plans, and more state and local employees are covered by state-administered plans than by locally-administered plans (about 24 million members and beneficiaries compared with about 3 million). However, there are more local government employees than state government employees (about 14 million compared with about 5 million), and while local governments sometimes participate in plans administered by states, the local governments generally retain responsibility for contributing the employer's share of funding to the plans for their employees. As a result, local governments contribute more to pension plans each state fiscal year, overall, than do state governments.

Growing Old

2011-06-01
 |  Business & Economics
Growing Old

Author: Yasuyuki Fuchita

Publisher: Brookings Institution Press

ISBN: 9780815721543

Category: Business & Economics

Page: 162

View: 707

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While the immediate dangers from the recent financial crisis have abated—much of the financial system has returned to profitability and the economy is growing, albeit slowly—the damage to the economy will linger for years. Among the many impacts is the problem that may be most acute in the United States: how state and local governments and private companies will honor their obligations under defined benefit (DB) pension plans. Institutional investors also confront new difficulties in the low-interest-rate environment that has prevailed since the onset of the crisis. East Asian economies, namely in Japan, Korea, and China, also face pension issues as their populations age. In Growing Old, experts from academia and the private sector consider the hard questions regarding the future of pension plans and institutional money management, both in the United States and in Asia. This volume is the latest collaboration between the Brookings Institution and the Nomura Institute of Capital Markets Research on issues confronting the financial sector of common interest to audiences in the United States and Japan. Contributors: Olivia S. Mitchell (Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania), Akiko Nomura (Nomura Institute of Capital Markets Research), Robert Novy-Marx (Simon Graduate School of Business, University of Rochester), Betsy Palmer (MFS Investment Management), Robert Pozen (Harvard Business School), Joshua Rauh (Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University), Natalie Shapiro (MFS Investment Management)