The opinions expressed in the readings below are the opinions of their authors and are not necessarily the opinions of State Treasurer Janet Cowell or the NC Department of State Treasurer.
What unique issues do women face in preparing for retirement?
GAO report on challenges to women in ensuring financial security in retirement
Full text of report is available using link at bottom left side of page
Earnings and Women's Retirement Security
Both the executive summary and full paper are available
How has turnover changed over time?
For the broader national population, see Decline of Career Employment and EBRI Report on Employee Tenure. For NC public employees, this question can be answered by comparing our turnover experience from the late 1970s with our turnover experience from this decade, shown in this worksheet. The worksheet shows the probability of leaving the state/local workforce from one year to the next. The fact that it has declined (particularly at younger ages) indicates that tenure is longer, in line with the EBRI report. Note that even if just 6% of the workforce leaves every year, there is only a (1 - 0.06)^30 = 16% or 1 in 6 chance that a new hire will reach his or her 30th anniversary.
Prevalence of DB and DC plans in public and private sectors
This document highlights the large NC private employers that provide DB plans to their current employees. This report, from the National Conference of State Legislatures, provides some information on DC plans in the public sector.
Which local employers provide 401(k) employer contributions and retiree medical benefits?
The 401(k) information is in this worksheet for those that contribute to the state 401(k) as opposed to their own plan. Both 401(k) and retiree medical benefits for counties are covered in the UNC School of Government salary survey. Note that all law enforcement officers, state and local, receive a 5% employer contribution to the 401(k).
How have the ad-hoc cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) provided in the state and local retirement systems compared to inflation in recent decades?
This table and chart show this comparision.
What retirement benefits are currently available to the state/local workforce?
This document (3 pages; updated February 5) should help answer this question.
How have state and local governments modified their human resource practices in response to the recession?
See this survey from the Center for State and Local Government Excellence.
Do you have information on work and disability among older Americans?
Census Bureau Report: 65+ in the United States particularly pgs. 58-64 on disability and on pgs. 83-94 on work
Census Bureau Report: Americans with Disabilities
How common are automatic cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) in other retirement systems?
As mentioned in the meeting, automatic COLAs are extremely rare in the private sector, although a few employers still do occasional ad-hoc COLAs. For public sector employers, see p. 32 of this survey from the Wisconsin Legislative Council. Some of the other tables in this report might also be of interest.