Politics And The Economy Impact Public Pensions

The National Institute on Retirement Security (NIRS) released a new report on November 14, 2012 that examines the human resource impacts on retirement benefits during the recent economic downturn.  The research cited in “The Great Recession: Pressures on Public Pensions, Employment Relations and Reforms” shows that radical ideological interests have sought to take advantage of fiscal challenges in seeking to switch public employees from defined benefit pension to individual savings plans.  This, the report concludes, will trigger higher turnover, as workers will no longer have the same economic incentives to stay with public employers.