The average funding ratio for U.S. public pension plans declined to 75.4 per cent in 2023, compared to 77.8 per cent in the previous year, according to a new survey by the National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems. The report, which was based on responses from nearly 160 public pension funds with roughly US$2.3 […]
Legislation that mandates the transfer of five New Brunswick public sector defined benefit pension plans to a shared-risk model goes into effect today. The Pension Plan Sustainability and Transfer Act, which received royal assent in December, will impact more than 7,800 active members enrolled in five plans serving school board and nursing home employees and […]
U.S. public sector defined benefit pension plans that have switched to a defined contribution model have experienced negative cash flows and increased costs and employee turnover, according to a new report by the National Institute on Retirement Security. The report analyzed five public sector pension plans including those in Alaska, Michigan and West Virginia. It […]
The New Brunswick government introduced legislation Wednesday to transfer five of its public sector defined benefit pension plans to shared-risk plans, saying the move will ensure the sustainability of plans that have become unaffordable. “They were not designed to have cases where [employees] might work the same amount of years that [they are] retired,” said […]
When Alaska switched its public education employees from two defined benefit pension plans to a 401(k)-style defined contribution plan, more staff left their positions, according to a new report by the National Institute on Retirement Security. The report benchmarks retirement benefit offerings among state-level plans in Alaska and nationwide, analyzing the evolution of public pension […]
An article on Amazon Canada’s ‘Dogs at Work’ program was the most-read story on BenefitsCanada.com over the last week. Here are the five most popular news stories of the week: 1. Amazon expanding ‘Dogs at Work’ program to Canada, easing employees’ return to workplace 2. Survey finds 39% of women considering quitting job due to stress, burnout 3. 76% […]
The Association of Canadian Pension Management is urging Retraite Québec to provide additional flexibility in the funding of municipal and university defined benefit pension plans. In an open letter, the ACPM requested flexibility to fund up to 100 per cent of amortization payments from the reserve, noting this change would allow for better management of financial risks […]
The Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology pension plan is increasing the pension factor used in its calculation of defined benefit payments from its DBplus plan. For pensions earned after Jan. 1, 2025, members of the jointly sponsored pension plan will see annual payouts increase from 8.5 per cent of their total contributions per annum […]
The Pension and Investment Association of Canada is calling on the federal government to establish a going-concern plus regime as a long-term minimum funding requirement for federally regulated defined benefit pension plans. In its pre-budget submission to Finance Canada, the PIAC said it believes the Canadian government should set a uniform funding requirement for all provinces […]
The average funding ratio for U.S. public pension plans increased to 77.8 per cent in 2022 with the majority (68 per cent) of pensions’ revenue coming from investment returns, according to a new survey by the National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems. The 12th annual public retirement systems study received responses from 195 state and […]