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50-State Pension Calculator for Public Sector Employees

"The pension calculator tool ... is intended to inform the pension debate, by allowing users to easily compare benefit levels across all 50 states. Simply click on a state highlighted in blue in the map ... to estimate the pension that you would collect after a career in government. The calculator will also provide an estimate of the total annuity cost, or how much you would need to save to replicate that guaranteed income stream in retirement. To compare generosity of benefits between states, click on the 'Compare States' tab."

Why Defined Benefit Retirement Plans Have No Place in the Local or State Public Sector

"In America, through a mix of incentives and regulations, we rely on employers to provide benefits that European governments provide through taxing and spending. But we shouldn't expect government employers to bear more of a burden than private sector firms for workers' healthcare and retirement.... Guaranteeing a secure retirement should be the responsibility of the Federal government (Social Security and Medicare), retirees and their families, not state and local governments."

Health Benefits Are Still Richer in Public Sector

"The standard employee premium share for a family plan is 23% in the public sector and 30% in the private, which works out to a difference of $1,100 annually.... [P]rivate workers face higher deductibles, co-pays and co-insurance costs.... Governments offer health benefits to more of their employees than private firms (75% vs. 59%).... Somewhere between 60-80% of large government employers offer [retiree healthcare], whereas fewer than 20% of large private employers do."

Trends in Public-Sector Employee Tenure (PDF)

24 pages. "All classes of public-sector workers had longer tenures, on average, than those of private-sector workers.... [P]ublic-sector workers were less likely to change jobs, which means fewer opportunities for leakage and more continuous participation. However, tenure for some groups of public-sector workers was shortening, so understanding how to incorporate more shorter-tenure workers may involve some tweaking of the retirement programs. The most striking result of this study is the age distribution of workers in the public sector, as the share of those in their 40s is sharply declining." [Also available: Study Snapshot]

The State of Public-Sector DC Plans: 2023

"The average account balance for public-sector DC plan participants increased with age and tenure.... The average and median employee contribution amounts increased with age.... The average and median employee contribution rates (employee contributions divided by salary) were 6.4 percent and 3.7 percent.... Participants in their 20s had the largest allocations to target-date funds (71.3 percent)."

Public Sector Workers Not Covered by Social Security: Implications for Their Retirement Security (PDF)

"Public sector entities seeking exemption from Social Security must demonstrate that they comply with the requirement that they sponsor a pension plan whose benefits are 'comparable' to Social Security. The most common method of demonstrating compliance is to show that the plan benefits are equal to or greater than a safe harbor that was established in 1991. But does the safe harbor truly ensure that benefits are comparable?"

Using DC Plan Auto-Enroll to Improve Public Sector Participant Outcomes (PDF)

11 pages. "Due to their history of being viewed as supplemental, defined contribution plans in the public sector have lagged behind their ERISA counterparts in both innovation and participation.... [S]upplemental plans in the public sector have remained in the 30-50% participation range for decades.... [It] is time for public sector defined contribution plans to improve their plan design in an effort help public sector employees achieve retirement readiness."

The Evolving Role of Defined Contribution Plans in the Public Sector (PDF)

"Traditional defined benefit public sector retirement plans are under pressure to make structural changes with governments making a range of changes that seek to reduce or control employer contributions and address unfunded liabilities.... As public sector employees face greater financial pressures and employers continue to make changes to primary pension plans, it is time to review the role and design of defined contribution plans in the public sector."

An Assessment of the U.K. Government's Reforms to Public Sector Pensions (PDF)

79 pages. Excerpt: This report analyses the impact of the Government's public sector pension reforms for public sector employees, for the sustainability of the public sector schemes and for the comparison between pay and pensions in the public and private sectors.

Reinventing Healthcare for Public Sector Retirees

"Rising retiree healthcare liabilities strain public sector budgets, but shifting to the individual marketplace with defined contributions offers cost relief and better retiree healthcare."

Sharing Defined Benefit Pension Costs: A Survey of Public Sector Practices

"This analysis explores how public-sector employers share and allocate defined benefit pension costs between employers —taxpayers— and employees, compares these practices with those in the private sector, and advises policymakers on creating cost-sharing policies to balance the burden of retirement benefits between the employer and employee."

Governance Guide for Public Sector Retirement Plans

19 pages. "[Public sector plans] operate under fiduciary rules determined at the state level, which introduce unique governance responsibilities for each plan sponsor. This state-based governance means that, while many public sector plans voluntarily follow ERISA standards, they must still adhere to state-specific guidelines and nuances, which vary across jurisdictions. This guide provides broad information on governance structures and mechanisms that help plan sponsors manage their plans effectively."

Are Pensions the Answer to the Public-Sector Worker Shortage?

"[As] the number of layoff announcements in the private sector increase and a record number of Americans withdraw funds from their 401(k)s as a result of financial distress, the public sector may be uniquely positioned to reverse its worker shortage with a highly attractive benefit that gives it an edge over the private sector: a pension."

How Have Pension Cuts Affected Public Sector Competitiveness for Employees? (PDF)

"[The authors find that] workers hired after benefit cuts had earned less in the private sector than similar workers hired before the cuts occurred.... [P]ension cuts appear to reduce the ability of public sector employers to compete with private sector employers for workers.... [T]he finding does indicate that states and localities should at least consider how pension cuts might affect recruitment and retention."

Does Mortality Differ Between Public and Private Sector Workers? (PDF)

"In projecting pension costs, state and local plans assume their workers will live longer than private sector workers.... The analysis confirms that public sector workers -- particularly women -- have lower mortality rates than their private sector counterparts. The question is whether lower mortality reflects the nature of the job or the nature of the workers. The answer is the workers -- specifically their education levels. Controlling for education, the gap between public and private workers disappears."

How Does Retiree Health Insurance Influence Public Sector Employee Saving?

"[T]his paper utilizes a unique data file on three baseline cohorts from the Health and Retirement Study to explore how employer-provided retiree health insurance may influence net household wealth among public sector employees, where retiree healthcare benefits are still quite prevalent. We find that most full-time public sector employees who anticipate receiving employer-provided health insurance coverage in retirement save less than their private sector uncovered counterparts."

Kentucky Private Employers Believe Public-Sector Pension Reform Overdue

"With the state struggling to address a $19 billion shortfall in its pension plans, many business owners have marveled at the state's inability to adapt like the private sector. Many in the business community have called for years for government pensions to look more like the private sector to address the massive government deficits. But public employees and others question whether the private sector model works best."

Comparing Public Employee Benefits to the Private Sector: The Welch Factor

"There may be nine fallacies used to defend public-sector pensions but Dr. Jason Richwine of the Heritage Foundation propagates one major fallacy used to attack them when he avers: 'Primarily because DB benefits are guaranteed to workers while DC benefits are not, public-sector retirement benefits are almost always more generous than those of comparable private-sector workers.' Nothing could be more misleading ... or dangerous."

Government Report Shows Wide Disparity Between Benefits for Public Employees Compared to Private Sector

"It's no secret that public employees tend to get better benefits than their private-sector counterparts. But a new report from the Labor Department this week is still striking in just how wide the gap is. As of March of this year, 89% of state and local government employees get offered some sort of retirement benefit, compared to 65% in private industry. 79% of public workers can get life insurance through work, versus 57% of private workers. 89% of government workers get paid sick leave, versus 61% in the private sector. The starkest contrast, though, is in health care. 73% of state and local government workers -- including 83% of full-time workers -- receive health benefits through their jobs. In the private sector, barely over half, 51%, of all workers get health benefits, and just under two-thirds, 64%, of full-time workers do."

Report: UK Occupational Pension Provision in the Public Sector (PDF)

56 pages. Excerpt: This paper has been prepared to give factual background to the important political debate now taking place on reforming public sector schemes. .... After a brief introduction to the UK public sector schemes, the first chapter of this paper examines how much they cost. The paper then goes on to assess the value of their benefits, before and after reform, compared to those in the private sector.