Changes in pension plan retirement formulas and benefit provisions over the last decade are examined, drawing on data collected and tabulated by the U.S. Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Survey of medium and large firms. The evidence shows that pension provisions have changed a great deal over the last decade, among both defined benefit and defined contribution plans. In the defined benefit environment, participation and vesting rules changed substantially; early retirement became more accessible and benefits somewhat more generous; normal retirement ages declined; and pension benefits were increasingly likely to depend on final rather than career earnings. Benefit integration with social security also grew to almost two-thirds of all participants in defined benefit plans. Overall, though pension replacement rates rose slightly over time, benefit ceilings remained pervasive for work at older ages and disability benefit provisions became more stringent. Defined contribution pension plans also changed a great deal over the decade of the 1980s. Workers were increasingly likely to be covered by combinations of defined benefit and defined contribution plans, with the latter usually a savings and thrift plan permitting a lump sum distribution. Profit sharing and stock plans appear to have stagnated during the latter part of the 1980s.
Download Info
To download:
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the
proper application to
view it first. Information about this may be contained
in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read
the IDEAS help
page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS
site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version under "Related research" (further below) or search for a different version of it.
Publisher Info
Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number
3744.
Length: Date of creation: Jun 1991 Date of revision: Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:3744
Note: LS AG Contact details of provider: Postal: National Bureau of Economic Research, 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A. Phone: 617-868-3900 Email: Web page: http://www.nber.org More information through EDIRC
For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: ().
Related research
Keywords:
Other versions of this item:
References listed on IDEAS Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
Cited by: (explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)