The Great Recession: Pressure on Public Pensions, Employment Relations and Reforms
A new research brief examines the workforce impacts of existing defined benefit (DB) pension plans to assess the likely effects of a switch to defined contribution (DC) individual accounts or cash balance plans.
“The Great Recession: Pressures on Public Pensions, Employment Relations and Reforms” finds that:
Public employers would attract a different labor force if they switched retirement benefits away from pensions. Public employees would be less committed to employers and thus less likely to invest in nontransferable skills that are critical to delivery of taxpayer services.
Employee turnover would increase under individual DC accounts and cash balance plans. These types of retirement benefits no longer defer compensation into the future and thus offer fewer economic incentives for employees to stay with public employers.
Moving from a pension structure would result in higher cost for public employers and employees because of higher investment and administrative costs for alternative retirement plans.
Public employers and employees overwhelmingly choose to stay with pensions rather than moving to alternative benefits when faced with a choice, illustrating the high value of pensions to public sector employers and employees.
Evolution and Growth: How Public Pension Plans Have Diversified Their Investments Amid Changing Markets
A report from the National Institute on Retirement Security (NIRS) and Aon examines the changes public pension plan investing has undergone throughout the twenty-first century.
Pensionomics 2025: Measuring the Economic Impact of Defined Benefit Pension Expenditures
Pensionomics 2025: Measuring the Economic Impact of Defined Benefit Pension Expenditures finds pending powered by U.S. private and public sector defined benefit pensions contributed significantly to the economy. In 2022, retiree spending of public and private sector pension benefits generated $1.5 trillion in total economic output, supporting 7.1 million jobs across the nation.
In partnership with AARP and NRTA, NIRS has developed a series of state-by-state infographic fact sheets regarding the public employee and teacher retirement systems across the country.
These fact sheets present a snapshot of these retirement systems along with key data from NIRS research and other sources.
What Do Americans Think About Pensions For Public Employees?
A research infographic from the National Institute on Retirement Security (NIRS) finds strong support among Americans for retirement benefits provided to state and local government employees. “What Do Americans Think About Pensions For Public Employees? finds 86 percent of Americans say all workers, not just those employed by state and local governments, should have a […]
