Not so modest: Pension benefits for full-career state government employees

Andrew Biggs ()

AEI Economic Perspectives, 2014

Abstract: City and state governments around the country are pursuing reforms to address the rising costs of public employee pension plans. In response, public employee unions and pension plans themselves often portray these benefits as "modest." In reality, public pension plans offer long-term government workers benefits that make them among the best-off retirees in the country. Indeed, the average full-career government worker in eight states retires as a "pension millionaire," with 23 states paying $750,000 or more in lifetime retirement benefits. Drastic benefit reductions for current retirees would be unfair, but reforms that make public- and private-sector pensions more comparable should be on the table.

Keywords: Retirement; pensions; AEI Economic Perspectives; Government employees; Policy Papers; What to Do: Policy Recommendations on Entitlement Programs (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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