Urban Institute Rates Pennsylvania PERS Among Worst In Nation At Covering New Hires

The Urban Institute released a report Thursday studying the pension benefits paid by Pennsylvania’s State Employees Retirement System.

The authors rated the System as the third worst in the country in terms of covering new state employees. From the report:

Pennsylvania’s pension plan for state employees receives a failing grade in the Urban Institute’s state and local pension plan report card, and ranks as the third-worst plan in the nation covering newly hired general state employees. The plan scores poorly because it is inadequately funded, it penalizes work at older ages by reducing lifetime benefits for older employees, and it provides few retirement benefits to short-term employees. Age-25 hires must work 32 years before they accumulate rights to future pension benefits worth more than their required plan contributions. Various pension reforms could distribute benefits more equitably across the workforce.

More details on the report’s findings, as reported by TribLive:

The study, published Thursday, said SERs, the state employee retirement system fund that serves about 120,000 retirees and 105,000 state workers, has an $18 billion shortfall and deficits that result in dramatic inequities in pension benefits.

The plan ties benefits to years of service. Researchers found 76 percent of all state-financed pension benefits go to the 25 percent of employees with the largest pensions, and the top 5 percent of recipients receive 22 percent of all benefits.

Those who leave after five years, the minimum time to vest in the system, fared poorly.

Only Massachusetts and New Jersey scored worse than Pennsylvania in terms of covering new state employees, said economist Richard W. Johnson, a senior fellow with the Washington-based Urban Institute and lead author of the study.

Read the full report here.