Pension Rights Center: Publications | Reports

Reports on Pension Plan Freezes,
Changes, and Trends

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.

Alternatives to Frozen Defined Benefit Pension Plans (Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, August 2009). The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) recently began collecting data on frozen defined benefit pension plans, including details pertaining to the percent of workers participating in frozen plans, benefit accruals, and enrollment alternatives for employees in frozen plans.

Look Before You Leap: The Unintended Consequences of Pension Freezes (National Institute on Retirement Security, October 2008). With the economy becoming weaker, many state and local governments will be facing fiscal challenges in the months and years ahead. These challenges will undoubtedly prompt governments to carefully examine all aspects of their budgets, including pension costs for state and local workforces. This brief explores important factors public employers should keep in mind when making decisions about their retirement programs.

Defined Benefit Pensions: Plan Freezes Affect Millions of Participants and May Pose Retirement Income Challenges (Government Accountability Office, July 2008). This report examines (1) the extent to which defined benefit pension plans are frozen and the characteristics of frozen plans; and (2) the implications of these freezes for plan participants, plan sponsors, and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.

Why Are Companies Freezing Their Pensions?(Boston College Center for Retirement Research, December 2007). In an attempt to identify factors that led specific companies to freeze their plans, this paper explores the relationship between the probability that a plan was frozen and characteristics of the plan, the firm, and the industry.

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation and Single-Employer Plan Terminations (Congressional Research Service, March 2007). The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) regulates plan terminations. It provides for three types of single-employer plan terminations — standard, distress, and involuntary — and imposes different responsibilities on the PBGC for each type. This report discusses ERISA’s procedures for terminating single-employer plans and the PBGC’s role in such terminations.

Why Are Healthy Employers Freezing Their Pensions? (Boston College Center for Retirement Research, March 2006). This brief examines 17 healthy companies that have recently frozen their traditional pension plans. Individual fact sheets for each company can be found here.

An Analysis of Frozen Defined Benefit Plans (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, December 2005). Data is from 2003.

You can also read more about pension freezes on the Pension Rights Center's pension freeze fact sheet.

Click the links below to read reports on the following topics: