[lbo-talk] employers do away with pensions

[Simon Archer]

>
> Re: the EBRI report item.


I work with a group studying  these questions in Ontario and while opinion
surveys are always suspect the same findings came out of a similar study
here of plan sponsor attitudes, citing volatility of costs as primary reason
to close off a plan, especially among mature plans. That doesnt fully
explain the decline though - plans had mature populations and liabilities
before the current era and did not drop the plans, and it doesnt explain the
lack of new plan starts (it does suggest a lack of ability by management to
properly run investment funds)...others have pointed to the shift of
decision-making from HR to CFO offices, and the greater focus on pensions as
balance sheet liabilities, which are then dealt with as risk not at
essential HR policies, however, other have pointed out that plenty of
risk-based balance-sheet compensation is doled out by sponsors - cf. stock
options. The usual conclusion is that it is just another form of depressing
wages, in this case, deferred wages...but am interested in work on the
causes of decline that folks are aware of...thanks in advance.