The Cost of Pensions

On a nationwide basis, pension costs for state and local governments are roughly three percent of total spending.  According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, pension costs since 1980 have been reliably stable, averaging from around four to three percent.

A Macro View of Public Pension Assets

We’ve all heard the comment: public pension unfunded liabilities represent a “trillion dollar gap” and growing.

That unfounded statement considers the grand total of every system’s liability even though the actual liabilities vary dramatically due to multiple factors.

So while neither do assets all fall into one big pot, what do you get if you were to lump them together?