Patricia Buscher CB02-89
Public Information Office
(301) 457-3030/457-3670 (fax)
(301) 457-1037 (TDD)
e-mail: pio@census.gov
Public Retirement Payments Reach Record $100 Billion,
Census Bureau Reports
State and local government employee retirement systems paid $100 billion
to 6 million retirees and survivors in fiscal year (FY) 2001, the Commerce
Department's Census Bureau reported today.
There were 2,208 retirement systems at that time, with a membership of
16.8 million persons, who could be eligible for regular benefit payments
in the future.
The structure of retirement systems varied widely among the states. In
some, state and local government employees were vested in a small number
of statewide systems. Others had a large number of systems, many of these
serving employees of individual local governments.
Every year the Census Bureau issues statistics on the financial
activity of the nation's state and local public-employee retirement
systems, including receipts, payments and cash, and security investment
holdings.
Findings for FY 2001 include:
- Illinois, with 377, and Pennsylvania, with 357, had the most
public-employee retirement systems. In contrast, Hawaii and Maine had the
fewest, with one system each that covered all public employees in their
states.
- Receipts totaled $119 billion in fiscal 2001. These included earnings
on investments ($54 billion), government contributions ($38 billion) and
employee contributions ($27 billion).
- Payments amounted to $112 billion and consisted mostly of benefit
payments to retirees and survivors ($100 billion).
- Cash and security investment holdings of state and local government
employee retirement systems totaled $2.2 trillion, essentially unchanged
from FY 2000, the first time such investment holdings topped the $2
trillion mark.
- Retirement systems distributed their investments among a variety of
government securities, nongovernmental securities and other assets 11
percent of assets ($245 billion) was invested in governmental securities,
18 percent ($380 billion) in corporate bonds and 36 percent ($774 billion)
in corporate stocks, the largest single category of investment holdings.
The remaining assets were in cash and deposits, foreign and international
securities and other investments.
The Internet tables are from the State and Local Government Public
Employee Retirement Systems Survey for FY 2001. The data are not subject
to sampling variability, but are subject to response and processing errors
and errors of nonresponse.
Table: National Summary of State and Local Government
Public Employee-Retirement Systems: FY 2001
| Membership |
Total |
Percent |
| Number of Systems |
2,208 |
100 |
| .... State |
220 |
10 |
| .... Local |
1,988 |
90 |
| Total membership |
16,805,743 |
100 |
| .... Active |
13,937,161 |
82.9 |
| .... Inactive |
2,868,582 |
17.1 |
| Total beneficiaries receiving periodic benefit payments |
5,954,213 |
NA |
| Finances ($ 1,000) |
Amount |
Percent |
| Total receipts |
118,630,779 |
100 |
| .... Employee contributions |
26,645,455 |
22.5 |
| .... Government contributions |
38,354,897 |
32.3 |
| ...... State governments contributions |
17,249,393 |
14.5 |
| ...... Local governments contributions |
21,105,504 |
17.8 |
| .... Earnings on investments |
53,630,427 |
45.2 |
| Total Payments |
111,666,391 |
100 |
| .... Benefits |
100,239,632 |
89.8 |
| .... Withdrawals |
4,177,209 |
3.7 |
| .... Other payments |
7,249,550 |
6.5 |
| Total cash and investment holdings |
2,160,190,047 |
100 |
| .... Cash and short-term investments |
117,020,801 |
5.4 |
| .... Total securities |
1,869,814,922 |
86.6 |
| ...... Governmental securities |
245,342,132 |
11.4 |
| ........ Federal Government |
244,201,858 |
11.3 |
| .......... United States Treasury |
164,359,968 |
7.6 |
| .......... Federal agency |
79,841,890 |
3.7 |
| ........ State and local government |
1,140,274 |
0.1 |
| ...... Nongovernmental securities |
1,624,472,790 |
75.2 |
| ........ Corporate bonds |
379,979,935 |
17.6 |
| ........ Corporate stocks |
773,560,609 |
35.8 |
| ........ Mortgages |
22,939,402 |
1.1 |
| ........ Foreign and international |
268,944,190 |
12.5 |
| ........ Other nongovernmental |
179,048,654 |
8.3 |
| .... Other investments |
173,354,325 |
8 |
| .... Real Property |
093,755 |
2 |
| .... Miscellaneous investments |
129,260,570 |
6 |
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