What is a Public Sector Pension Worth?
Authors: Disney, Richard1; Emmerson, Carl2; Tetlow, Gemma3
Source: The Economic Journal, Volume 119, Number 541, November 2009 , pp. F517-F535(1)
Publisher: Blackwell Publishing
Abstract:
We measure accruals in defined benefit (DB) pension plans for public and private sector workers in Britain, using typical differences in scheme rules and sector-specific lifetime age-wage profiles by sex and educational group. We show not just that coverage by DB pension plans is greater in the public sector but that median pension accruals as a percentage of salary are more than 6% higher among DB-covered public sector workers than covered private sector workers. This is largely driven by earlier normal pension (retirement) ages but also by differences in earnings profiles across the sectors.Document Type: Research article
DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-0297.2009.02320.x
Affiliations: 1: Institute for Fiscal Studies and University of Nottingham 2: Institute for Fiscal Studies 3: Institute for Fiscal Studies and University College London

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