April 7, 1999 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)
Single- and multi-employer defined
benefit pension plans differ
About one-fifth of all workers with
traditional pension plans are covered by multi-employer, as opposed to single employer,
plans. Multi-employer plans enable employees to gain credit towards a pension from work
with several different employers. Portability and age-of-retirement provisions differ in
these two types of plans.
![Percent of employees covered by select provisions in single- and multi-employer defined benefit pension plans, 1994-95](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20120921204559im_/http://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/images/1999/Apr/wk1/art03.gif)
[Chart data—TXT]
Portability agreements with other plans apply to 60 percent of employees
under multi-employer plans compared to 3 percent of those under single employer plans.
These provisions allow participants to transfer years of credited service or accumulated
benefits from one plan to another. Because multi-employer pension plans are typically
found in industries characterized by workers who switch employers frequently (in some
cases to employers not participating in the original multi-employer plan), a greater need
exists for such portability of benefits.
Multi-employer plans are more likely than single-employer plans to provide normal
(unreduced) retirement benefits for those retiring before age 65. In 1994-95, some 52
percent of employees in single-employer plans could not retire until age 65, compared with
33 percent of employees in multi-employer plans. Furthermore, some 39 percent of employees
in multi-employer plans could retire at age 62, compared with only 23 percent of employees
covered by single-employer plans.
These data are a product of the BLS Employee
Benefits Survey. Additional information is available from
"Multiemployer Pension Plans" (PDF
37K), Compensation
and Working Conditions, Spring 1999.
Of interest
Spotlight on Statistics: National Hispanic Heritage Month
In this Spotlight, we take a look at the Hispanic labor force—including labor force participation, employment and unemployment, educational attainment, geographic location, country of birth, earnings, consumer expenditures, time use, workplace injuries, and employment projections.
.
Read more »