Public pensions at all levels became healthier in 2013, according to recent studies. Wilshire Consulting’s examinations of state, county and city pension plan funding show that their funding ratio improved last year.
Wilshire’s “2014 Report on State Retirement Systems: Funding Levels and Asset Allocation” says that the ratio of pension assets to liabilities in the 134 state pension plans it studied was 75% for the 12 months that ended on June 30, 2013, up three percentage points from the level during the previous 12-month period.
According to Reuters, Wilshire showed similar results concerning city and county pension plan funding. For the period ending June 30, 2013, the 109 retirement systems Wilshire studied had a funding ratio of 73%, up from the 69% of the previous 12-month period.
This news comes amid similar reports from the National Association of Government Defined Contribution Administrators (NAGDCA) and the U.S. Census Bureau. NAGDCA recently issued a study that found that public-sector employees are better prepared financially for retirement than their private-sector counterparts. And the Census Bureau recently reported that cash and securities holdings of the 100 largest public employee pension systems in the United States grew during the first quarter of 2014.
Still, despite the good news there is ground to be gained. The state funding report showed that the 134 state pension plans studied had assets of $2.5 trillion for the period July 1, 2012-June 30, 2013, but liabilities of $3.5 billion. And there remain states that have very significant funding deficits, including California and Illinois. Also, Wilshire reported that although funding for county and city plans has improved, in 2013, 90% of them still were underfunded.
- Log in to post comments