Pension Publications

General Pension Reports

• Retirement Income: Challenges for Ensuring Income throughout Retirement (Government Accountability Office, April 2010). GAO was asked to examine (1) options retirees have for drawing on financial assets to replace preretirement income and options retirees choose, and (2) how pensions, annuities and other retirement savings vehicles are regulated.

• Veterans’ Benefits: Pension Benefit Programs (Congressional Research Service, February 2010). The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) administers several pension programs for veterans and their surviving spouses and dependent children. This report will provide information on the most current pension programs—those programs for which a veteran, a surviving spouse, or a dependent child becomes eligible on or after January 1, 1979—and on the special pension program for Medal of Honor recipients.

• Is Pension Inequality Growing? (Center for Retirement Research, January 2010). This brief documents and explores trends in pension participation by income.

• Pension Coverage and Retirement Security (Center for Retirement Research, December 2009). At any given moment in time, only about half of private sector workers are covered by any sort of employer-sponsored plan. This lack of coverage has two implications.

• Private Pension Plan Bulletin: Abstract of 2007 Form 5500 Annual Reports (Employee Benefits Security Administration, December 2009). This report, published annually, provides basic statistical data on the types of retirement plans offered, how many people participated in each type of plan, and the amount of assets in each type.

• Private Pension Plan Bulletin Historical Tables and Graphs (Employee Benefits Security Administration, December 2009). This report provides basic statistical data on the types of retirement plans offered, how many people participated in each type of plan, and the amount of assets in each type from 1975 through 2007.

• Pension Sponsorship and Participation: Summary of Recent Trends (Congressional Research Service, September 2009). Every month, the Census Bureau conducts the Current Population Survey (CPS) among a nationally representative sample of approximately 97,000 households, primarily for the purpose of estimating the rates of employment and unemployment. During March of each year, the survey includes supplemental questions about employment, income, health insurance, retirement plan participation, and receipt of government benefits during the previous calendar year. This information allows analysts and researchers to calculate the number and percentage of workers who reported whether their employer offered a retirement plan and whether they participated in the plan. Responses can then be categorized by demographic and economic characteristics, such as the worker’s age, race, sex, income, and the size of firm at which they worked.

• Pension Insurance Data Book 2008 (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, Summer 2009). The PBGC has published the Pension Insurance Data Book annually since 1996 to present detailed statistics on PBGC program operations and benefit protections.

• Private Pensions: Alternative Approaches Could Address Retirement Risks Faced by Workers but Pose Trade-offs (Government Accountability Office, July 2009). This report addresses the following questions: (1) What are key risks faced by U.S. workers in accumulating and preserving pension benefits? (2) What approaches are used in other countries that could address these risks and what trade-offs do they present? (3) What approaches do key proposals for alternative plan designs in the U.S. suggest to mitigate risks faced by workers and what trade-offs do they entail?

• Taken for a Ride Greater Risk Exposure Threatens Retirees' Income Security (Center for American Progress, July 2009). Retirement savings have become increasingly individualized, meaning that retirees have had to manage several economic risks increasingly on their own. The result of unnecessarily large risk exposure became clear to millions of 401(k) plan participants during the financial crisis as the statements detailing the quarterly returns on their investments began to arrive in the mail late last year. The losses were staggering.

• Retirement Savings and Household Wealth in 2007 (Congressional Research Service, April 2009). Once every three years, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System collects data on household assets and liabilities through the Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF). The most recent such survey was conducted in 2007, and the survey results were released to the public in February 2009. This CRS report presents data from the 2007 SCF with respect to household ownership of, and balances in, retirement savings accounts.

• Retirement Plan Participation and Contributions: Trends from 1998 to 2006 (Congressional Research Service, January 2009). The U.S. Census Bureau periodically collects information from individuals about their participation in employer-sponsored retirement plans. The most recent such survey was conducted from February through May of 2006. After extensive review and editing by the Census Bureau, the survey data files were released to the public in November 2008. This CRS report presents a summary of the data and a comparison of the results of the 2006 survey with similar surveys that the Census Bureau conducted in 1998 and 2003.

• Pension Issues: Lump-Sum Distributions and Retirement Income Security (Congressional Research Service, January 2009). According to data collected by the Census Bureau in 2006, 16.2 million people had up to that time received at least one lump-sum distribution from a retirement plan at some point in their lives. Lump-sum distributions that are spent rather than saved can reduce future retirement income. The Congressional Research Service has updated its report titled to include new data from the Census Bureau's Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP).

• Private Pension Plan Bulletin: Abstract of 2006 Form 5500 Annual Reports (Employee Benefits Security Administration, December 2008). This report, published annually, provides basic statistical data on the types of retirement plans offered, how many people participated in each type of plan, and the amount of assets in each type.

• Pension Insurance Data Book 2007 (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, Winter 2008). PBGC has published the Pension Insurance Data Book annually since 1996 to present detailed statistics on PBGC program operations and benefit protections. This edition of the Pension Insurance Data Book contains one short article that describes the characteristics of PBGC-insured plans that completed a standard termination during Fiscal Year 2007.

• Pension Sponsorship and Participation: Summary of Recent Trends (Congressional Research Service, September 2008). Every March, the Current Population Survey includes questions about employment, income, health insurance, retirement plan participation, and receipt of government benefits during the previous calendar year. This information allows analysts and researchers to calculate the number and percentage of workers who reported whether their employer offered a retirement plan and whether they participated in the plan, and to categorize the responses by demographic characteristics. Unfortunately, we cannot ascertain whether the plan is a defined benefit plan or a defined contribution plan.

• Summary of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) (Congressional Research Service, April 2008). This report provides background on the pension laws prior to ERISA, discusses various types of employee benefit plans governed by ERISA, provides an overview of ERISA's requirements, and includes a glossary of commonly used terms.

• Traditional and Roth Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs): A Primer (Congressional Research Service, March 2008). This report describes the primary features of two common retirement savings accounts that are available to individuals. Both traditional and Roth IRAs offer tax incentives to encourage individuals to save for retirement. Although the accounts have many features in common, they differ in some very important aspects. This report explains the eligibility requirements, contribution limits, tax deductibility of contributions, and rules for withdrawing funds from the accounts. This report will be updated as legislative activity warrants.

• Employer-Sponsored Pensions: A Primer (The Urban Institute, January 2008). The shifting pension landscape raises questions about the financial security of future retirees. About one-half of private-sector workers are not covered by employer-sponsored pension plans on their current job. Many private-sector employers have replaced traditional pensions with 401(k)-type plans, which protect benefits for workers who change jobs frequently but expose participants to investment risks. This primer describes pensions, workers with coverage, and related policy issues.

• Pension Wealth and Income: 1992, 1998, and 2004 (Center for Retirement Research, January 2008). Using data from the Health and Retirement Study, this brief documents this shift and compares employer-sponsored pension wealth across households with heads age 51-56 in 1992, 1998, and 2004. The results show that, for the average household, both pension wealth and replacement rates — the ratio of annual benefits to pre-retirement earnings — fell between 1992 and 2004.

• Private Pension Plan Bulletin: Abstract of 2005 Form 5500 Annual Reports (Employee Benefits Security Administration, December 2007). This report, published annually, provides basic statistical data on the types of retirement plans offered, how many people participated in each type of plan, and the amount of assets in each type.

• Pension Sponsorship and Participation: Summary of Recent Trends (Congressional Research Service, September 2007). Every March, the Current Population Survey includes questions about employment, income, health insurance, retirement plan participation, and receipt of government benefits during the previous calendar year. This information allows analysts and researchers to calculate the number and percentage of workers who reported whether their employer offered a retirement plan and whether they participated in the plan, and to categorize the responses by demographic characteristics. Unfortunately, we cannot ascertain whether the plan is a defined benefit plan or a defined contribution plan.

• Pension Funds Investing in Hedge Funds (Congressional Research Service, June 2007). The proportion of U.S. corporate-defined benefit pension funds investing in hedge funds has increased to 24% in 2006, up from 19% in 2004 and 12% in 2000. Although statistics vary, total corporate pension fund assets allocated to hedge funds in 2006 was 2.1%. Because of hedge funds’ risky nature, rapid growth, lack of oversight, and recent losses, some wonder if they are appropriate investments for workers’ retirement funds.

• Private Pension Plan Bulletin: Abstract of 2004 Form 5500 Annual Reports (Employee Benefits Security Administration, March 2007). This report, published annually, provides basic statistical data on the types of retirement plans offered, how many people participated in each type of plan, and the amount of assets in each type. The report also includes historical tables from 1975 to 2004.

• The Financial Health of the Pension Guaranty Benefit Corporation (PBGC) (Congressional Research Service, March 2007). This report focuses on the financial condition of the PBGC and the effects of the Pension Protection Act; it will be updated upon major developments affecting the PBGC’s financial condition.

• Employee Benefits Security Administration: Enforcement Improvements Made but Additional Actions Could Further Enhance Pension Plan Oversight (Government Accountability Office, January 2007). In March 2002, the GAO identified weaknesses in EBSA’s enforcement program, despite the agency’s actions to strengthen it. Since that time, EBSA has, among other things, promoted coordination among regional investigators and increased participation in its voluntary correction programs, as GAO recommended. EBSA also has recruited investigators with advanced skills in accounting, finance, banking, and law that officials believe are necessary due to ERISA’s technicalities. Yet some weaknesses identified in 2002 remain. EBSA's response is included in this report as Appendix III.

• Private Pension Plan Bulletin: Abstract of 2003 Form 5500 Annual Reports (Employee Benefits Security Administration, October 2006). This report, published annually, provides basic statistical data on the types of retirement plans offered, how many people participated in each type of plan, and the amount of assets in each type.

• EPI Issue Guide: Retirement Security (Economic Policy Institute, September 2006). EPI Issue Guides are online resources that provide data, charts, fact sheets, and links to relevant publications on a variety of topics.

• Pension Sponsorship and Participation: Summary of Recent Trends (Congressional Research Service, August 2006). An updated analysis of the U.S. Census Bureau's Current Population Survey, looking at the number of workers and percentage of the workforce that have access to and participate in employer-sponsored retirement plans.

• National Compensation Survey:  Employee Benefits in Private Industry in the United States, March 2006 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, August 2006).  Includes statistical data on the percentage of workers that are covered by employer-provided retirement plans, health insurance, life insurance, disability, paid vacation, and other benefits.

• Estimating Pension Coverage Using Different Data Sets (Boston College Center for Retirement Research, August 2006). This report assesses the strengths and weaknesses of five major data sets that are commonly used to estimate the level of pension coverage in the U.S.

• Private Pension Plan Bulletin: Abstract of 2002 Form 5500 Annual Reports (Employee Benefits Security Administration, July 2006). This report, published annually, provides basic statistical data on the types of retirement plans offered, how many people participated in each type of plan, and the amount of assets in each type.

• Private Pension Plan Bulletin:  Abstract of 2001 Form 5500 Annual Reports (Employee Benefits Security Administration, February 2006).  This report, published annually, provides basic statistical data on the types of retirement plans offered, how many people participated in each type of plan, and the amount of assets in each type.