The application of social security to most of the public sector has generated measures to address the resulting inequities and a campaign to repeal or modify those measures.
The point factor method of job evaluation consists of a large number of discretionary decisions that result in something that appears to be entirely objective and, even, scientific.
JOB EVALUATIONC o m p e n s a t i o n
The Unemployment Insurance system of the United States is a federal-state partnership. It responded well to the usual frictional unemployment and to the several recessions since its creation in 1935. The recent Great Recession beginning 2008, however, was its most severe test. Numerous extended-benefit programs were called upon to aid the large number of unemployed men and women who had exhausted their benefits. This article examines the performance of the Unemployment Insurance program during that test with emphasis on coverage, benefits, funding, the Unemployment Trust Fund and the several Extended Benefit programs. In addition to the entire United States system, it focuses on the experience of the five largest states: California, Florida, Illinois, New York and Texas as a sample of the whole.
Traditional employer-sponsored defined-benefit pension plans in the private sector that provided lifetime benefits have declined precipitously since 1985. They have been largely replaced by Section 401(k) plans in which investment control, market risk and longevity risk have been transferred from the employer to the participant. Most participants opted for the low-yielding money market plan default option, which proved inadequate for providing viable retirement income. The Pension Reform Act of 2006 made two important changes to 401(k) plans: (1) allowed automatic enrollment and (2) allowed target-date funds as a “qualified default investment alternative.” This article examines the evolution from defined-benefit pensions to target-date funds and the closely related collective investment trusts.
California faces large costs in funding its public sector pension plans, and its governor has proposed replacing its traditional defined-benefit plans with a 401(k)-type defined-contribution plan. This proposal, which will probably go directly to the voters in June 2006 and has generated nationwide interest, does not stand alone. Other states have adopted similar measures, and nonunion employers in the private sector have already shifted to defined-contribution and cashbalance pension plans. Other established industrial economies have also revised their retirement income programs in response to the increased competition from new entrants to the global economy. This article examines this development with attention to the arguments on both sides of the issue, what has already happened elsewhere, and the likely outcome of the current debate.
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