Public Information Office CB00-19
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Sandra Reading
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State and Local Government Employee-Retirement
Assets at All-Time High, Census Bureau Reports
Cash and security holdings of state and local government employee-retirement
systems reached an all-time high of $1.7 trillion in 1998, up $237 billion over
1997, according to statistics released today by the Commerce Department's
Census Bureau.
More than $1.2 trillion was invested in nongovernmental securities --
$639 billion in corporate stocks, $258 billion in corporate bonds, $195 billion
in foreign and international securities and $159 billion in mortgages and other
securities. Another $278 billion was held in government securities, most of it
($276 billion) federal government securities. Only a small share ($91 billion)
was in cash and deposits.
"There were 2,140 public employee-retirement systems in the United States
in 1998," said Census Bureau analyst Sandra Reading. "In some states, state and
local government employees are consolidated in a small number of statewide
systems. In other states, there are a large number of systems, many of which
serve employees of individual local governments."
Illinois, with 374, and Pennsylvania, with 343, had the most employee-retirement
systems. Florida, Massachusetts, Michigan and Minnesota all had more than
100 systems; in 19 states, on the other hand, there were fewer than 10 systems.
Hawaii and Maine each had only one system that served all state and local
government employees.
The Internet tables are from the 1998 State and Local Government
Employee-Retirement Systems survey, with summary data for the nation and
each state. They cover fiscal year 1997-1998. The data are not subject to
sampling variability, but are subject to response errors, processing
errors and nonresponse.
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