Research & Analysis

This new analysis gauges the relative performance of the fifty states and the District of Columbia in three key areas: anticipated retirement income; major retirement costs like housing and healthcare; and labor market conditions for older workers.

A new national economic impact study finds that DB pension benefits have a significant economic impact: 6.2 million American jobs and $943 billion in economic output.

New NIRS research examines racial disparities in retirement readiness among working-age Americans and households.

This report assesses the level of security and risk provided by each country’s retirement system through the layers of income replacement provided by government, employer, and individual programs.

The study broadly examines how American households are faring in relation to retirement savings targets recommended by some financial services firms.

This nationwide public opinion poll measures how Americans feel about their financial security in retirement and assesses their views on policies that could improve their retirement outlook.

This primer provides a comprehensive overview of the public pension investment process, or how pension systems allocate assets and set expected rates of return.

This report examines key factors that have contributed to private and public employers’ pension decisions.  It finds that closing a pension can cost substantially more than adjusting an existing plan.

This report examines the workforce impacts of switching from a DB plan to a DC plan. Public employers would attract a different labor force, there would be an increase in employee turnover, and employers will incur higher costs.

A new issue brief provides a historical overview of the Federal Employees’ Retirement System and the Thrift Savings Plan and how they create a combined approach to achieving retirement security.

This report calculates the impact of pensions for reducing the risk of elder American poverty and hardship, particularly for households headed by women and racial/ethnic minority groups.

This report provides the national economic impacts of public and private pension plans, as well as the impact of state and local plans on a state-by-state basis.

This report analyzes the effectiveness of defined benefit (DB) pensions on teacher retention and productivity finds that pensions play a critical role in recruiting and retaining productive teachers.

This report finds that New York City’s defined benefit pension plans can deliver the same retirement income at nearly 40% lower cost than defined contribution 401(k)-type individual accounts.

This study analyzes seven state retirement systems that offer a choice between DB and DC plans to find that workers strongly prefer DB plans over DC plans.