July 2025

US. NCPERS Warns of Risks From Dismantling Public Pensions

In its 2025 update of its 2018 report, “Unintended Consequences: How Scaling Back Public Pensions Puts Government Revenues at Risk,” the National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems found that public pensions produced $445.2 billion more in state and local revenues than taxpayers contributed in 2023. According to the update, state and local public pensions are a “powerful economic engine,” generating more than $660 billion and contributing nearly $3 trillion in economic output in 2023. While policymakers grapple with decisions...

US. Asset Gains for 100 Largest Public Pensions Surge $98B in May; PRT Costs Decline

The 100 largest public defined benefit plans in the U.S. raked in $98 billion in asset gains during May thanks to a 2.4% investment gain during the month, according to Milliman’s Public Pension Funding Index. It was the funds’ best monthly market performance in more than a year. The consulting and actuarial firm said the strong gains boosted their estimated funded level to 81.1% from 79.6% a month earlier. It also said that the deficit between the estimated plan assets and liabilities...

June 2025

US. Milliman analysis: Public pension funding stable in April after plans end volatile month with slight market gain

Milliman, Inc., a premier global consulting and actuarial firm, today released the latest results of its Public Pension Funding Index (PPFI), which analyzes data from the nation’s 100 largest public defined benefit plans. Despite April market swings caused by trade and tariff uncertainty, the Milliman 100 PPFI plans closed the month with estimated investment gains of 0.4% in aggregate. Individual plans’ estimated returns ranged from -1.8% to 1.4%. Combined, the plans added about $24 billion in market value during the...

May 2025

Why a retirement age of 70 is a bad idea, according to science

If you are counting the years until you can retire, then don’t move to Denmark. The country has just passed a law nudging the official retirement age up to 70, which will take effect in 2040, for people born in 1971 or later. But Denmark is not the only place with this idea. The UK state pension age used to be 60 for women and 65 for men. It is currently 66 for everyone, but it will increase – in stages – up...

US. House passes reconciliation bill that cuts federal employee retirement benefits

The House voted 215-214 along party lines early Thursday morning to pass its budget reconciliation package that includes a slimmer range proposed cuts to federal workers’ retirement benefits. The bill now heads to the Senate for consideration. Last month, the House Oversight and Reform Committee advanced its portion of the bill, which would cut federal spending to partially pay for tax cuts for the wealthy and increased immigration enforcement. The measure included provisions requiring employees previously exempted from higher Federal Employees...

Jamaica. Senate Passes Legislation to Grant Certain Public Officers Option of Retiring Before Age 65

The Senate has passed legislation granting public officers born between August 1, 1961 and February 28, 1963, the option of retiring before reaching age 65 while still receiving full benefits. Minister of Education, Skills, Youth and Information, Senator Dr. the Hon. Dana Morris Dixon, piloted the Pensions (Public Service) (Amendment and Validation) Act 2025 through the Upper House on Friday (May 16). The Bill seeks to validate and confirm, as lawful, all the actions and omissions made by any person in...

The Singular Role of Public Pension Funds in Corporate Governance

By Jill E. Fisch & Jeff Schwartz With more than $5 trillion in assets, public pension funds are significant players in financial markets. Like private asset managers, public pension fund managers are typically expected to exercise their discretion over investing and engagement to serve the interests of the funds’ beneficiaries exclusively, a model that we term “beneficiary primacy.” To this end, beneficiary primacy imposes fiduciary duties on fund managers to maximize the economic value of the fund. We argue that...

US. House Committee advances proposal to cut back on federal employee pensions

In April, Representative James Comer (R-KY) announced a series of proposals that would force many federal civilian employees to pay higher premiums for retirement benefits and to lower their benefits by changing the formula for calculating payments, and last week the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability approved, by a narrow vote, to advance the proposals. Last Wednesday’s vote now advances the bill to the House Budget Committee, where it may face resistance from Republican lawmakers who might be reluctant...

Brazil social security minister latest to quit in major pension fraud scandal

Brazil's Social Security Minister, Carlos Lupi, has resigned nine days after police unveiled a major corruption scandal which defrauded pensioners of $1.1bn (£829m). Federal police allege that over the past decade, the National Social Security Institute (INSS) made unauthorised deductions from payments made to millions of pensioners. The money was allegedly paid to several associations and unions, which then shared the earnings with corrupt government officials. Lupi has always denied any wrongdoing and said he ordered an investigation as soon as he...

April 2025

Varying effects of public pensions: Pension spending and old-age employment under different pension regimes

By Kun Lee Socioeconomic consequences of pension reforms have often been discussed without careful consideration of institutional contexts, despite the fact that institutional designs of public pensions differ substantially across countries. This study argues that the outcomes of pension reforms vary depending on the institutional structure of public pensions, by showing that the associations between public pension spending and old-age employment rates of different socio-demographic groups vary across different institutional contexts. Using time-series cross-section data from 20 European countries and...