Pensions and Personal Income

1
Pensions and Personal Income
David G. Lenze AUBER Annual Fall
Conference Pensacola, Florida 15 October 2007
2
Economic Importance of Pensions

• Pension benefits as measured by NIPA were 613
  billion in 2006
• Pension benefits are greater than Social Security
  Benefits (544 billion in 2006)
• More than 28 of household wealth is in the form
  of pension assets
• Population is aging

3
Declining personal saving rate
4
Employers contributing more to pensions, but not
as much as in late 70s and early 80s
5
Major income measures treat pension transactions
differently
6
Fringe benefits are almost ½ of compensation
growth since 2000
7
Compensation of auto workers spiked in 2003
8
but not the wage component
9
Supplements to wages reach nearly 50,000 per job
for auto workers in 2000
10
Wage supplements jumped to 57,000 per job for
Illinois state government workers in 2003
11
Military pensions are nearly 35 of compensation
12
Almost 60 of military pension contributions are
to amortize unfunded liabilities
13
Retirement income exceeds Social Security benefits
14
Dispersion of average retirement income much
wider than average RDS transfers
15
Counting pensions when received rather than when
earned lowers U.S. personal income about 5
16
Retirees share of income comparable to their
share of population