How many actuaries provide retirement services that don’t require an actuary’s special skills?

For my academic writing, I hope BenefitsLink neighbors will help me with some guesses or observations about what actuaries work on.

How many actuaries work 85% or more of one’s time on defined-benefit pension plans?

How many actuaries work 85% or more of one’s time on individual-account plans?

For actuaries between those outer ranges, what’s the split between db and dc plans?

Of work done for individual-account plans, how much (if any) requires an enrolled actuary’s certificate?

Of work done for individual-account plans, how much (if any) requires math skills beyond those possessed by other educated people?

And although I’m focusing on actuaries in this initial query, I might ask similar questions about people who hold another license or credential.

Peter, there is at least one other category.  There are a substantial number of actuaries who place themselves in the "pension actuary" category (usually including an Enrolled Actuary credential) that also work on health-related issues.  Notably, "Other Post-Employment Benefits" (OPEB); ie, retiree benefits that most often include medical, dental, life.  The percent of time spent on these issues varies widely: anywhere from 5% to 95%+.  

David Rigby, thank you for telling me about another way actuaries work.

Do you have a guess on the relative portions of actuaries who work 85% or more on one or the other of the two classes—db or dc—of retirement plans?

I can't offer any quantitative insights, and I'll refrain from anecdotal observations or conjecture.

However, I'll note that there are at least 3 distinct definitions of "actuary" when it comes to retirement, and which of these you mean might affect your analysis:

1. Enrolled actuaries
2. Individuals with a credential from any of the five U.S.-based actuarial organizations
3. Individuals working in an actuarial capacity, regardless of whether they have obtained any credentials

For example, federal law only recognizes definition 1 with respect to ERISA and the tax code, and only those actuaries may certify a plan's actuarial report, its funded status, its PBGC variable-rate premium, or its sufficiency for a standard termination. However state law might expand that to include actuaries under definition 2 for some purposes. And some people under definition 3 might have a job title of Actuary.

I would think most pension actuaries don't have their fingers as much in the DC pies, simply because most DC admin work typically can be done by someone cheaper to the TPA business owner.  Aside from non-discrimination on combos and 404a7 impacts, the actuaries I've worked with never touched any DC plans, and now that I'm doing actuarial work there's a corresponding "DC person" to handle their half.

16 hours ago, david rigby said:

There are a substantial number of actuaries who place themselves in the "pension actuary" category (usually including an Enrolled Actuary credential) that also work on health-related issues.  Notably, "Other Post-Employment Benefits" (OPEB); ie, retiree benefits that most often include medical, dental, life.

For sure. Our organization employs pension-only actuaries, healthcare only actuaries, and XLOS (cross line of service) actuaries who deal with both. 

Thank you for your kind help.

An acutary is a person who believes that if you put your left foot in icewater and your right foot in boiling water, on the average you're comfortable.

An actuary is a person who, when faced with a choice of buying a watch that doesn't run at all and one that loses one second a day, will choose the watch that doesn'r run at all because it is absolutely correct twice a day while the watch that loses one second a day is right only once every 17 years. 

An actuary is a person who, when in a burning airplane, must choose between riding the airplane to the ground or parachuting out, will choose to stay with the plane because statistically flying is safer than parachuting. 

An actually will not understand that you don't need a parachute to skydive, but you do need a parachute to skydive twice.