Significant Reforms to State Retirement Systems

Introduction

Although states have a history of making adjustments to their workforce retirement programs, changes to public pension plan design and financing have never been more numerous or significant than in the years following the Great Recession. The global stock market crash sharply reduced state and local pension fund asset values, from $3.15 trillion at the end of 2007 to $2.17 trillion in March 2009, and due to this loss, pension costs increased. These higher costs hit state and local governments right as the economic recession began to severely lower their revenues. These events played a major role in prompting changes to public pension plans and financing that were unprecedented in number, scope, and magnitude.

Date published

December 2018

Contact

Keith Brainard, Research Director

Alex Brown, Research Manager

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What’s New at NASRA: Employee Contributions to Public Pension Plans

Employee contributions remain a central part of public pension financing, and the way those contributions are structured is subject to change depending each states' governance rules. . NASRA’s 2026 updated brief finds median employee contribution rates of 6.2 percent of pay for employees who participate in Social Security and 9.0 percent for those who do not. For employees who do not participate in Social Security, the public pension often plays a broader role in retirement security, effectively providing two of the traditional three legs of the retirement stool rather than one.

Since 2009, 41 states increased employee contributions in at least one plan, while some states recently reduced rates for selected employees. Variable contributions are also becoming more common, with 26 plans in 17 states adjusting employee rates based on funding, plan costs, or other factors. The brief provides current trends and a state-by-state look at employee contribution requirements across public retirement systems.