An influential body of research studies the labor supply and earnings of denied Social Security
Disability Insurance (SSDI) applicants to estimate the potential employment and earnings of
those awarded benefits. This research design implicitly treats employability as a stable applicant
attribute that is not directly impacted by the process of applying for SSDI benefits. If, plausibly,
applicants’ employment potential deteriorates while they are out of the labor force, then the labor
force participation of denied applicants -- who spend an average of 10 months seeking benefits may understate their employment potential at the time of application.

This paper provides a comparative analysis of defined contribution (DC) pension systems in Australia, Ireland, the United Kingdom and the United States. There are considerable similarities in the systems which have evolved out of employer sponsored trust-based defined benefit (DB) systems and have expanded at different rates as DB has declined.

A number of countries have introduced notional defined-contribution pensions as a replacement
for public pensions of the defined-benefit type. Among OECD and EU countries, for example, these comprise Italy, Latvia, Poland and Sweden. There has been a great deal of interest in other countries in this approach to pension reform.

Policymakers have designed Social Security to be a progressive retirement program that replaces a larger share of monthly earnings for low- and middle-income workers than for high earners. However, previous research has found that, although the Dis-ability Insurance (DI) component of Social Security is very progressive, the Old-Age and Survivors Insur-ance (OASI) component may be less progressive than intended. One reason is that high earners tend to live longer than low earners. Since Social Security pays an annuity that lasts throughout retirement, it benefits high earners with greater longevity.

The Great Recession has resulted in the highest national unemployment rate in nearly 30 years, and those who find themselves unemployed remain jobless longer than ever before. In response, the federal government has extended unemployment insurance (UI) benefits for up to 99 weeks, almost a year and a half longer than normal durations.

401(k) plans – the main retirement savings vehicle for millions of workers – allow participants to save on a tax-deferred basis. This tax incentive is more valuable to workers in high-income families than workers in low-income families because they face higher marginal income tax rates. Not surprisingly, then, studies of the distributional effects of 401(k)s find that they mainly benefit high-income workers. However, these studies assume that employer contributions to 401(k)s do not affect the total compensation that each worker receives – that is, every worker “pays for” employer contributions in the form of lower wages. This brief challenges this assumption, testing whether employer contributions may actually increase total compensation for low-income workers, who may be more reluctant than high-income workers to accept wage reductions in exchange for retirement saving contributions...

Følgende datoer er avsatt for møter i høstens Pensjonsforum: 23. eller 30. september, 21. eller 28. oktober, 18. eller 25. november,9. eller 16. desember. Av hensyn til innlederne er det avsatt to alternative datoer i forbindelse med hvert møte. Hvilken dato det aktuelle møtet vil avholdes og tema for møtet vil meddeles medlemmene i god tid før hvert møte. Eventuelle spørsmål knyttet til møtene i høstens Pensjonsforum kan rettes til

Second pillar pension funds, built up during employment and which supplement the basic state pension, are facing serious challenges in the Netherlands. Active and retired employees find themselves having to deal with the consequences of financial problems affecting the funds. Retired employees in particular want to have more say in managing the funds. Employers are in consultation with the unions about shifting responsibility for part of the pension risk to employees.

Pension funds in the Netherlands are facing their second solvency crisis within a period of six years. As most Dutch pension funds effectively are arrangements of intergenerational risk sharing, especially the larger sector pension funds, the necessary recovery process implies various generational dilemmas.

I en ny rapport analyserer Jon Hippe og Pål Lillevold hvordan nye tjenestepensjonsprodukt mellom de tradisjonelle ytelses- og innskuddsordningene kan utformes i det norske tjenestepensjonsmarkedet. Rapporten beskriver mulige løsninger for en slik «hybrid-ordning», og kartlegger de virkningene dette kan ha for foretak og arbeidstakere. Rapporten analyserer både prinsipielle og praktiske sider ved utforming av hybride tjenestepensjonsordinger i privat sektor

En undersøkelse foretatt av NAV viser at kunnskapen om pensjoner i befolkningen er lav. Undersøkelsen ble gjennomført blant personer over 45 år. Her kommer det fram at interessen for pensjon er relativt stor og økende med økende alder, men at det er store mangler i kunnskapen om pensjoner og pensjonssystemet.

I et nytt notat spør Fafo-forsker Geir Velandom hvorfor en del fristilte statlige virksomheter har gått eller ønsker å gå ut av en offentlig tjenestepensjonsordning. Notatet presenterer og drøfter mulige årsaker og begrunnelser nærmere, og det legges særlig vekt på en overgang til innskuddspensjon. For arbeidstakerne innebærer en slik overgang både fordeler og ulemper, og i notatet drøftes disse nærmere.