New paper: “The Funding of State and Local Pensions: 2012-2016”

The Center for Retirement Research has released a new Issue in Brief:

“The Funding of State and Local Pensions: 2012-2016” by Alicia H. Munnell, Jean-Pierre Aubry, Josh Hurwitz, and Madeline Medenica

The brief’s key findings are:

• During 2012, using current GASB standards, the funded status of public plans declined slightly from 75 percent to 73 percent.

• This decline reflected slow asset growth, which was only partly mitigated by reduced liability growth.

• States and localities also continued to fall short on their annual required contribution payments.

• Going forward, the funded ratio is projected to gradually move above 80 percent, assuming a healthy stock market.

This brief is available here.