Forbes: US State, Local Pensions Funded at Half Levels of Other Countries

U.S. state and local government pensions, which operate under the loosest accounting standards in the public pension world, are not nearly as well-funded as most public employee pensions in other developed countries, Forbes.com reported.

“On an apples-to-apples basis, U.S. public employee plans simply set aside substantially less money to fund each dollar of promised benefits than do public employee pensions in other OECD countries,” Forbes.com contributor Andrew Biggs explained. “When the stakes are this high, last isn’t a good place to be,” he said.

Biggs explained that a 2011 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) study "showed public employee pensions in other countries use more conservative assumptions and more demanding funding requirements than state and local pensions in the U.S."

The OECD’s 2011 study compared government employee retirement plans in eight countries (the U.S., Canada, the Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Australia, Norway and France).

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