Research & Analysis

Retirement is growing more challenging for public sector workers, according to a new report by the National Institute on Retirement Security (NIRS) and Aon, The Real Deal for the Public Sector: Retirement Income Adequacy Among U.S. Public Sector Employees. This research finds that state and local employees in a typical public defined benefit (DB) pension […]

This report finds that state and local government retirement systems on the whole successfully navigated the 2007 to 2009 Global Financial Crisis. Moreover, public retirement systems across the nation have adapted in the years since the recession by taking actions to ensure continued long-term resiliency. Examining the Experiences of Public Pension Plans Since the Great […]

Fortifying Main Street:  The Economic Benefit of Public Pension Dollars in Small Towns and Rural America illustrates the impact of benefit dollars from public pension plans according to several different measures: as a percentage of GDP by county; as a percentage of total personal income by county; and by categorizing counties as metropolitan, small town […]

This report documents how current tax incentives fail to promote adequate retirement security for the middle class. It considers the impact of factors including marginal tax rates, retirement plan participation, and income distribution on retirement saving levels. The Missing Middle: How Tax Incentives For Retirement Savings Leave Middle Class Families Behind also offers potential solutions […]

The National Institute on Retirement Security and the Conference of Consulting Actuaries launched a new public pension funding competition and award: Innovative Public Pension Funding Strategies. An esteemed panel of judges selected three funding strategy submissions for the award and $5,000. The winning submissions: The Cost of Stability: A Case Study by Robert (Andy) Blough, […]

A new national survey finds deep public concern about the K-12 public school workforce. Americans’ Views of Public School Teachers and Personnel in the Wake of COVID-19 finds that eighty-three percent of Americans express concerns about public school staff shortages, while 81 percent are worried about workforce burnout. Conducted by Greenwald Research, this new national […]

This analysis finds that defined benefit (DB) pension plans offer substantial cost advantages over 401(k)-style defined contribution (DC) accounts. A typical pension has a 49 percent cost advantage as compared to a typical DC account, with the cost advantages stemming from longevity risk pooling, higher investment returns, and optimally balanced investment portfolios. A Better Bang […]

A national survey finds strong support for new state-facilitated retirement programs aimed at helping workers without employer-provided plans save for retirement. Americans’ Views of State-Facilitated Retirement Programs finds: The vast majority of Americans (72 percent) agree that state-facilitated retirement programs are a good idea. There is high support across party and generational lines, with support […]

This report finds that economic inequality continues to grow, with Blacks and Hispanics owning only a sliver of financial assets. Even though the Gen X and Millennial generations are more diverse, whites continue to dominate when it comes to accumulating financial assets. This economic inequality ultimately translates into financial insecurity in retirement, which is exacerbated […]

A national survey finds that Millennials and Generation X are more worried about retirement as compared to older generations. Sixty-four percent of Millennials and 54 percent of Generation X are more concerned about their retirement security in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The level of concern is at 42 percent for Baby Boomers and […]

Hybrid retirement plans for state and local employees are not new, but these plan designs have received increased attention in recent years as some jurisdictions have sought to modify workforce retirement benefits. A hybrid is not one particular plan design, but instead is an umbrella term capturing a wide range of different plan designs. Some […]

A new national survey finds that more than three-fourths of Americans agree that all workers, not just those working for state and local government, should have a pension. And even though the nation is deeply divided on many other issues, support for pensions is consistent across party lines. Eighty percent of Democrats, 75 percent of […]

A new report finds that across party lines, Americans are worried about their financial security in retirement. The vast majority of Democrats (70 percent), Independents (70 percent) and Republicans (62 percent) agree that the nation faces a retirement crisis. There also is bi-partisan agreement that the average worker cannot save enough on their own to […]

Economic gains attributable to defined benefit (DB) pensions in the U.S. are substantial. Retiree spending of pension benefits in 2018 generated $1.3 trillion in total economic output, supporting nearly seven million jobs across the nation. Pension spending also added nearly $192 billion to government coffers at the federal, state and local levels. Pensionomics 2021: Measuring […]

This report examines several innovative and often lesser-known pension funding strategies that have been utilized in the public sector to address legacy pension costs and to create more stable costs over time. It comes as the recession sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic has threatened many state and local government budgets, and as concerns mount that […]