Employee Benefits

Defined Contribution Pension Participation and Contributions by Earnings Levels Using Administrative Data

This article examines the relationship between earnings levels and participation and contribution rates in defined contribution (DC) retirement plans. Specifically, the article estimates DC plan participation and contribution rates in 2006 both by the worker's current earnings and by the annual average of real earnings over the 10-year period 1997–2006. Using these two different measures of earnings allows us to assess whether employing a longer period of earnings, such as a decade, provides a better representation of pension outcomes than the short-term measure of current earnings.

Assessment of Retirement Plan Coverage by Firm Size Using W-2 Tax Records

Of particular interest in this article is the relationship between firm size and pension coverage and participation because small businesses tend to be less likely to offer retirement benefits to their employees than do large businesses. This relationship is particularly important given the current administration's retirement proposals to create automatic individual retirement accounts. Obviously, accurate information is important not only in formulating retirement income security policies that target workers without retirement plan coverage, but also to assess the impact of such policies on workers' retirement plan participation.

The Impact of Response Error on Participation Rates and Contributions to Defined Contribution Pension Plans

The accuracy of information about coverage and contributions to defined contribution (DC) pension plans is important in understanding the economic well-being of future retirees because these plans are an increasingly important part of retirement income security. Using data from the 1996 and 2004 panels of the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) merged with information from W-2 tax records, we examine the extent to which estimated participation rates and contribution amounts to DC plans derived from SIPP reports differ from estimates obtained from tax-deferred contributions in the W-2 tax records.

Estimating the First Instance of Substantive-Covered Earnings in the Labor Market

Trends in Elective Deferrals of Earnings from 1990–2001 in Social Security Administrative Data

Effective Retirement Savings Programs: Design Features and Financial Education

This article provides an overview of the literature on best practices for retirement savings plan design and financial education in the workplace. Without a successful plan design, financial education will not be effective and even a well-structured plan can fail to achieve retirement savings goals without financial education. The main components of a retirement savings program that employers must consider include options for enrollment, investment choices, employer matching of contributions, and distributions over the working career and at retirement. In addition, employers control the core aspects of financial education, such as the topics covered, the delivery methods used, the frequency with which it is offered, and its general availability.

The Evolution of Japanese Employer-Sponsored Retirement Plans

This article examines the development of Japanese voluntary employer-sponsored retirement plans with an emphasis on recent trends. Before 2001, companies in Japan offered retirement benefits as lump-sum severance payments and/or benefits from one of two types of defined benefit (DB) pension plans. One DB plan type was based on an earlier occupational pension model used in the United States. The other DB plan type allowed companies to opt out of the earnings-related portion of social security. Landmark laws passed in 2001 introduced a new generation of occupational retirement plans to employers and employees, creating three new DB plan designs and two new defined contribution types of plans. Since that time, the mix of employer-sponsored retirement plans offered in Japan has changed significantly, and overall employee coverage has declined. On balance, employer-sponsored retirement plans have remained largely DB in design.

Characteristics of Disabled-Worker Beneficiaries Receiving Workers' Compensation or Public Disability Benefits Compared With Disabled-Worker Beneficiaries Without These Additional Benefits

Benefit Adequacy in State Workers' Compensation Programs

This article summarizes several different methods used to measure the adequacy of wage replacement in state workers' compensation systems in the United States. Empirical research casts serious doubt on benefit adequacy, especially in the case of more serious disabilities.

[Errata: The electronic versions of this article that were originally posted contained incorrect labels on the lines in Chart 3. The labels have been updated in the electronic versions and are correct in the print publication.]

Variation of Employee Benefit Costs by Age

How much an employer pays for employee benefits varies widely and depends on the age of the workforce and the structure of the benefits package offered. In general, costs increase for older workforces. The factors driving the differences in cost by age are the time value of money, employee pay, and rates of health care use, disability, and death. Case studies show how the benefit package varies by age in a large traditional company, a large financial services company, and a medium-sized retail company. An illustration is also provided for retirement benefits from two sample plans to show how the benefits are earned over time.

Protection Against Income Loss During the First 6 Months of Illness or Injury

Benefits and Beneficiaries Under Public Employee Retirement Systems, Fiscal Year 1990

Unemployment Insurance: New Emergency Benefits Extension

Unemployment Insurance: Emergency Benefits Extended

Benefits and Beneficiaries Under Public Employee Retirement Systems, Fiscal Year 1989

Benefits and Beneficiaries Under Public Employee Retirement Systems, Fiscal Year 1987

Cash Benefits for Short-Term Sickness: Thirty-five Years of Data, 1948–83

Benefits and Beneficiaries Under Public Employee Retirement Systems, 1983

Benefits and Beneficiaries Under Public Employee Retirement Systems, 1981 and 1982

Cash Benefits for Short-Term Sickness, 1948–81

Benefits and Beneficiaries Under Public Employee Retirement Programs, 1980

Benefits and Beneficiaries Under Public Employee Retirement Systems, 1979

Cash Benefits for Short-Term Sickness, 1979

Income Replacement During Sickness, 1948–78

Benefits and Beneficiaries Under Public Employee Retirement Systems, Calendar Year 1977

Cash Benefits For Short-Term Sickness, 1977

Cash Benefits for Short-Term Sickness, 1948–76

Private Health Insurance Plans In 1976: An Evaluation

Private Health Insurance in 1975: Coverage, Enrollment, and Financial Experience

Cash Benefits for Short-Term Sickness, 1975

Private Industry Health Insurance Plans: Type of Administration and Insurer in 1974

Private Industry Health Insurance Plans: Employment Requirements for Coverage in 1974

Twenty-Five Years of Employee-Benefit Plans

Cash Benefits for Short-Term Sickness, 1948–74

Contrasts in HMO and Fee-for-Service Performance

Private Health Insurance in 1974: A Review of Coverage, Enrollment, and Financial Experience

Health Benefits for Laidoff Workers

Revised Coverage Estimates for Employee-Benefit Plan Series

Employee-Benefit Plans, 1973

Standardization of Short-term Benefits

Cash Benefits for Short-Term Sickness, 1973

Private Health Insurance in 1973: A Review of Coverage, Enrollment, and Financial Experience

Employee-Benefit Plans, 1972

Group Health Insurance Coverage of Full-Time Employees, 1972

Private Health Insurance in 1972: Health Care Services, Enrollment, and Finances

Cash Benefits for Short-Term Sickness, 1948–72

Employee-Benefit Plans, 1971

Private Health Insurance in 1971: Health Care Services, Enrollment, and Finances

Cash Benefits for Short-Term Sickness, 1948–71

Veterans' Compensation Program Amended

Effect of Coinsurance on Use of Physician Services

Effect of Coinsurance: A Multivariate Analysis

Two Decades of Employee-Benefit Plans, 1950–70: A Review

Liberalization of Veterans' Income-Maintenance Programs

Cash Benefits for Short-Term Sickness, 1948–70

Trends in Employee-Benefit Plans in the Sixties

Private Health Insurance in 1969: A Review

Cash Benefits for Short-Term Sickness, 1948–69

Employee-Benefit Plans in 1968

Income Replacement During Sickness, 1948–68

Private Health Insurance, 1968: Enrollment, Coverage, and Financial Experience

Employee-Benefit Plans, 1950–67

Medicare and Federal Employees Health Benefits Programs: Their Coordination

Income-Loss Protection Against Illness, 1948–66

Private Health Insurance: Coverage and Financial Experience, 1940–66

Growth in Employee-Benefit Plans, 1950–65

Income-Loss Protection Against Illness

Private Health Insurance: Coverage and Financial Experience, 1965

Employee-Benefit Plan Adjustments to Health Insurance for the Aged

Ten Years of Employee-Benefit Plans

Income-Loss Protection Against Short-Term Sickness, 1948–64

Employee-Benefit Plans: Developments 1954–63

Income-Loss Protection Against Short-Term Sickness, 1948–63

Study of Retirement Policies and Practices in Industry

Employee-Benefit Plans, 1954–62

Income-Loss Protection Against Short-Term Sickness, 1948–62

Growth of Employee-Benefit Plans, 1954–61

Income-Loss Protection Against Short-Term Sickness, 1948–61

Employee-Benefit Plans, 1954–60

Income-Loss Protection Against Short-Term Sickness, 1948–60

Trends in Employee-Benefit Plans: Part II

Trends in Employee-Benefit Plans, 1954–59: Part 1

Income-Loss Protection Against Short-Term Sickness, 1948–59

Employee-Benefit Plans, 1954–58

Income-Loss Protection Against Short-Term Sickness: 1948–58

Growth in Employee-Benefit Plans, 1954–57

Income-Loss Protection Against Short-Term Sickness: 1948–57

Growth in Employee-Benefit Plans

Growth in Protection Against Income Loss From Short-Term Sickness: 1948–56

The Growth in Protection Against Income Loss From Short-Term Sickness: 1948–55

Private Employee-Benefit Plans Today

The Growth in Protection Against Income Loss from Short-Term Sickness: 1948–54

Federal Employees Group Life Insurance Act Amendments

Civil Service Retirement Act Amendments, 1954

Group Life Insurance for Federal Employees

Joint and Survivor Annuities for Uniformed Services

Voluntary Insurance Against Sickness: 1950 Estimates

Voluntary Insurance Against Sickness, 1949 Estimates

Program Developments and Benefit Trends in Voluntary Health Insurance

Civil-Service Refunds

Recent Amendments to the Civil Service Retirement Act

Higher Educational Institutions and Social Security

Insurance Payments to Survivors of the Texas City Disaster

Service, Compensation, and Age of Railroad Employees, 1941

Federal Contributory Retirement Systems Other Than Civil Service