Pension Rights Center: Publications | Reports

Reports on Defined Benefit Plans

Program Perspectives: "Frozen Defined-benefit Plans (Bureau of Labor Statistics, April 2010). This issue of Program Perspectives focuses on defined-benefit retirement plans that are frozen.

The Disappearing Defined Benefit Pension and Its Potential Impact on the Retirement Incomes of Baby Boomers (Social Security Administration, October 2009). This article uses a microsimulation model to estimate how freezing all remaining private-sector and one-third of all public-sector defined benefit (DB) pension plans over the next 5 years would affect retirement incomes of baby boomers.

The Pension Factor: Assessing the Role of DB Plans in Reducing Elder Hardships (National Institute on Retirement Security, July 2009). The study finds that pensions reduce – and in some cases eliminate – the greater risk of poverty and public assistance dependence that women and minority populations otherwise would face.

Defined Benefit Pensions: Survey Results of the Nation’s Largest Private Defined Benefit Plan Sponsors (Government Accountability Office, March 2009). GAO was asked to examine (1) what changes employers have made to their pension and benefit offerings, including to their defined contribution (DC) plans and health offerings over the last 10 years or so, and (2) what changes employers might make with respect to their pensions in the future, and how these changes might be influenced by changes in pension law and other factors.

The Financial Crisis and Private Defined Benefit Plans (Boston College Center for Retirement Research, November 2008). This brief explores what a loss of roughly $1 trillion of private sector defined benefit equities means for the individual participants and for the firms that sponsor those plans.

Retirement Readiness: What Difference Does A Pension Make? (National Institute on Retirement Security, May 2008). This brief reviews the evidence on the role defined benefit pensions play in ensuring that older Americans have the resources they need to be self-sufficient in retirement.

Lump-Sum Distributions Under the Pension Protection Act (Congressional Research Service, December 2007). The Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA, P.L. 109-280) established new funding requirements for defined benefit pensions. The PPA also modified the provisions of federal law that prescribe how the minimum permissible value of a lump-sum distribution from a defined benefit plan will be determined in 2008 and thereafter. It also established conditions under which payment of lump sums from defined benefit plans will be restricted. This report summarizes the provisions of the PPA that affect lump sums paid from defined benefit pension plans.

Why Have Defined Benefit Plans Survived in the Public Sector? (Boston College Center for Retirement Research, December 2007). While 401(k) plans now dominate the private sector, defined benefit plans remain the norm among state and local governments. Why have public sector employers not shifted from defined benefit plans to 401(k)s like their private sector counterparts?

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.

An Update on Private Pensions (Boston College Center for Retirement Research, August 2006). This brief, which updates previous work, explores who is covered by a pension plan and who is not, how much retirees receive in pension income, and how pension coverage and receipt have changed over time.

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 Pensions: Information on Cash Balance Pension Plans (Government Accountability Office, October 2005). GAO analysis of the effects of converting from a traditional pension plan to a cash balance plan.

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