Pension Plans:
Many Workers Don't Know When They Can Retire
HRD-87-94BR: Published: Aug 12, 1987. Publicly Released: Sep 25, 1987.
Additional Materials:
- Full Report:
Contact:
In response to a congressional request, GAO provided information on workers' knowledge of pension plan provisions related to normal and early retirement.
GAO noted that it used data from a 1983 consumer survey to estimate the number and characteristics of workers in defined pension plans who knew: (1) if they would be eligible for early retirement; and (2) when they would first be eligible for full or early retirement. Regarding early retirement, GAO estimated that in 1983: (1) over 40 percent of the 22 million workers in pension plans offering early retirement were either incorrect or did not know about their eligibility; (2) about 75 percent of the 12 million workers who were correct about being eligible were either incorrect or did not know about their eligibility date; (3) workers who would be eligible were from 3 to 17 times more likely to know about their eligibility than those who would not; (4) eligible workers who had education beyond high school were twice as likely to know they would be eligible as those who did not; (5) those who were more than 5 years from eligibility were 1.5 times more likely to know than those who were within 5 years of eligibility; and (6) women were from 2.5 to 5 times as likely as men to say that they did not know about their early retirement eligibility. Regarding full or normal retirement, GAO estimated that: (1) over 70 percent of the 25 million workers in pension plans were not correct about when they would be eligible; (2) men were 1.4 times more likely than women to know when they would be eligible; and (3) workers within 5 years of normal retirement were 1.8 times more likely than those more than 5 years away to know when they would be eligible.
Oct 1, 2018
Postal Retiree Health Benefits:
Unsustainable Finances Need to Be AddressedGAO-18-602: Published: Aug 31, 2018. Publicly Released: Oct 1, 2018.
Jun 4, 2018
-
Central States Pension Fund:
Department of Labor Activities under the Consent Decree and Federal LawGAO-18-105: Published: Jun 4, 2018. Publicly Released: Jun 4, 2018. -
Central States Pension Fund:
Investment Policy Decisions and Challenges Facing the PlanGAO-18-106: Published: Jun 4, 2018. Publicly Released: Jun 4, 2018.
May 22, 2018
-
Retirement Plan Investing:
Clearer Information on Consideration of Environmental Social and Governance Factors Would Be HelpfulGAO-18-398: Published: May 22, 2018. Publicly Released: May 22, 2018.
May 21, 2018
-
Railroad Retirement Board:
Additional Controls and Oversight of Financial Interchange Transfers NeededGAO-18-323: Published: Apr 19, 2018. Publicly Released: May 21, 2018.
May 17, 2018
-
Social Security Administration:
Observations on Use and Costs of Social Security CardsGAO-18-507T: Published: May 17, 2018. Publicly Released: May 17, 2018.
Mar 7, 2018
-
Social Security Administration:
Continuing Leadership Focus Needed to Modernize How SSA Does BusinessGAO-18-432T: Published: Mar 7, 2018. Publicly Released: Mar 7, 2018.
Mar 5, 2018
-
Workplace Retirement Accounts:
Better Guidance and Information Could Help Plan Participants at Home and Abroad Manage Their Retirement SavingsGAO-18-19: Published: Jan 31, 2018. Publicly Released: Mar 5, 2018.
Feb 21, 2018
-
Railroad Retirement Board:
Actions Needed to Improve the Effectiveness and Oversight of Continuing Disability ReviewsGAO-18-287: Published: Feb 21, 2018. Publicly Released: Feb 21, 2018.
Jan 8, 2018
-
Social Security Disability:
Additional Measures and Evaluation Needed to Enhance Accuracy and Consistency of Hearings DecisionsGAO-18-37: Published: Dec 7, 2017. Publicly Released: Jan 8, 2018.
Looking for more? Browse all our products here
Explore our Key Issues on Retirement Security
Explore our other Key Issues here
