Over three-quarters of employers who offer a pension plan are not reversing changes they made last year, or they haven't decided yet, according to a recent survey by Buck Consultants; 52 percent of employers who offer defined-contribution plans agreed.
Almost one-quarter of employers surveyed said they made changes to their defined-contribution plans, most notably, by reducing employer contributions.
The most common changes employers made to pension plans, according to the survey, was to freeze participants benefits and to close plans to new employees. More than 40 percent of employers said their pension plan's funded status lost over 20 percent of its value in the recession, according to the report.
Recommended For You
"The economic downturn has had a dramatic impact on employer-sponsored retirement plans," Tamara Shelton, principal and managing director of the retirement practice at Buck Consultants, said in a press release. "Due to decreased asset levels during 2008 and changes to funding rules governing defined benefit plans required by the Pension Protection Act of 2006, employers' minimum contribution requirements for 2009 through 2011 will far exceed the 2008 requirements in many cases."
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
