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Changes in Firm Pension Policy: Trends Away from Traditional Defined Benefit Plans

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  • Kandice Kapinos
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    Abstract

    In light of the recent concerns regarding the solvency of Social Security’s Old-Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance (OASDI), private pensions may play an increasingly important role in retirement welfare of US retirees. However, the private pension landscape has evolved in ways that may result in lower private pension wealth for retirees. One recent such phenomenon involves the conversion of traditional defined benefit pension plans to cash balance plans, which resulted in lower pension benefits for many workers. In this study, I investigate how characteristics of the firm’s workforce influenced whether the firm converted their traditional pension plan to a cash balance plan and how these characteristics related to the firm’s pension plan policy more generally. Using the Longitudinal Employer-Household Data and pension plan data from the Department of Labor/Internal Revenue Service and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, I found little evidence of workforce age distribution effects on the likelihood of DB plan conversion to a cash balance plan in the 1990s. More generally, I consistently find positive associations between firms with older and more female workforces and defined contribution plans during the same time.

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    Paper provided by Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau in its series Working Papers with number 11-36.

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    Length: 22 pages
    Date of creation: Nov 2011
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    Handle: RePEc:cen:wpaper:11-36

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    1. Leslie E. Papke & Mitchell Petersen & James M. Poterba, 1996. "Did 401(k) Plans Replace Other Employer Provided Pensions?," NBER Working Papers 4501, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Kandice Kapinos, 2009. "On the Determinants of Defined Benefit Pension Plan Conversions," Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination, Springer, vol. 30(2), pages 149-167, June.
    3. Ippolito, Richard A, 1985. "The Labor Contract and True Economic Pension Liabilities," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 75(5), pages 1031-43, December.
    4. Teresa Ghilarducci & Michael Reich, 2001. "Complementarity of Pensions and Training under Multiemployer Plans," Journal of Labor Research, Transaction Publishers, vol. 22(3), pages 615-634, July.
    5. Leora Friedberg & Michael Owyang, 2004. "Explaining the Evolution of Pension Structure and Job Tenure," NBER Working Papers 10714, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Robin L. Lumsdaine & James H. Stock & David A. Wise, 1996. "Retirement Incentives: The Interaction between Employer-Provided Pensions, Social Security, and Retiree Health Benefits," NBER Chapters, in: The Economic Effects of Aging in the United States and Japan, pages 261-293 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Lazear, Edward P, 1979. "Why Is There Mandatory Retirement?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 87(6), pages 1261-84, December.
    8. Greg Niehaus & Tong Yu, 2005. "Cash-Balance Plan Conversions: Evidence on Excise Taxes and Implicit Contracts," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 72(2), pages 321-352.
    9. Richard B. Freeman, 1981. "The effect of unionism on fringe benefits," Industrial and Labor Relations Review, ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 34(4), pages 489-509, July.
    10. Alicia H. Munnell & Kelly Haverstick & Geoffrey Sanzenbacher, 2006. "Job Tenure and Pension Coverage," Working Papers, Center for Retirement Research at Boston College wp2006-18, Center for Retirement Research, revised Oct 2006.
    11. Joshua D. Rauh, 2006. "Investment and Financing Constraints: Evidence from the Funding of Corporate Pension Plans," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 61(1), pages 33-71, 02.
    12. Alicia H. Munnell & Francesca Golub-Sass & Mauricio Soto & Francis Vitagliano, 2006. "Why are Healthy Employers Freezing their Pensions?," Issues in Brief ib2006-44, Center for Retirement Research, revised Mar 2006.
    13. Leslie E. Papke, 1999. "Are 401(k) Plans Replacing Other Employer-Provided Pensions? Evidence from Panel Data," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 34(2), pages 346-368.
    14. Coronado, Julia Lynn & Copeland, Philip C., 2004. "Cash balance pension plan conversions and the new economy," Journal of Pension Economics and Finance, Cambridge University Press, vol. 3(03), pages 297-314, November.
    15. Kandice Kapinos, 2009. "On the Determinants of Defined Benefit Pension Plan Conversions," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 30(2), pages 149-167, June.
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