Published: June 21, 2011

A $176 Billion Gap for Public Pensions

In general, many experts say pension funds should hold 80 percent of the funds needed for future obligations. Many states, however, have failed to put enough aside.

Note: The baseline uses estimated assets and liabilities as of December 2010, assumes that public employees will continue to contribute to plans at the rate they did in 2009, that states will continue to grow at rates consistent with the last 10 years, and that plans’ assets will, over time, achieve investment returns equal to the long-term risk-free rate, or the rate of return provided by long-term Treasury inflation-protected securities. For a response to these figures from Nasra, the National Association of State Retirement Administrators, click here.