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Pensions and Retiree Health Benefits in Household Wealth: Changes from 1969 to 1992

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  • Alan L. Gustman
  • Thomas L. Steinmeier

Abstract

By 1992, pensions and retiree health insurance represented one quarter of the wealth of families on the verge of retirement. Between 1969 and 1992, abstracting from the effects of changes in wages and years of covered work on pension benefit amounts, changes in pension coverage and plan provisions raised total wealth by $67,000. This raised wealth from employer provided pension benefits per family by 150 percent in real terms. Changes in retiree health benefits, which have only about 7 percent of the value of pensions, experienced similar real growth, increasing in value by $3,700. Most of the increases in pension values and the value of retiree health insurance plans was due to improvements in real benefits for covered workers. All classes of wealth holders enjoyed increased wealth from employer-provided retirement plans, but those in the top half of the wealth distribution enjoyed increases that were much larger in absolute terms and larger in relation to the holders' total wealth.

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Bibliographic Info

Article provided by University of Wisconsin Press in its journal Journal of Human Resources.

Volume (Year): 35 (2000)
Issue (Month): 1 ()
Pages: 30-50
Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML (with abstract), plain text (with abstract), BibTeX, RIS (EndNote, RefMan, ProCite), ReDIF
Handle: RePEc:uwp:jhriss:v:35:y:2000:i:1:p:30-50

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  1. Olivia S. Mitchell & Jan Olson & Thomas Steinmeier, . "Construction of the Earnings and Benefits File (EBF) for Use with the Health and Retirement Survey," Pension Research Council Working Papers 98-19, Wharton School Pension Research Council, University of Pennsylvania.
  2. repec:att:wimass:9430 is not listed on IDEAS
  3. Edward N. Wolff & Marcia Marley, 1989. "Long-Term Trends in U.S. Wealth Inequality: Methodological Issues and Results," NBER Chapters, in: The Measurement of Saving, Investment, and Wealth, pages 765-844 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  4. John Rust & Christopher Phelan, 1997. "How Social Security and Medicare Affect Retirement Behavior in a World of Incomplete Markets," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 65(4), pages 781-832, July.
  5. Feldstein, Martin & Liebman, Jeffrey B., 2002. "Social security," Handbook of Public Economics, in: A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), Handbook of Public Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 32, pages 2245-2324 Elsevier.
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