Companies cut their contributions to workers’ retirement benefits by a quarter from 2001 to 2015, according to a new report by the consulting firm Willis Towers Watson, as profiled by Bloomberg.
The biggest driver of the slashing is the decline of traditional defined-benefit pensions, which have been replaced by more 401(k)-style, defined-contribution plans, Bloomberg reports.
Retirement benefits fell from about 9.1 percent of worker pay in 2001 to 6.8 percent in 2015, the report showed, with spending on traditional pensions plunging 76 percent in that time to less than 1 percent of worker pay. Moreover, medical benefits for retired workers became increasingly scant over the period, falling from 1.2 percent of worker pay to just 0.2 percent, according to the Bloomberg report.
Frank Kalman is Talent Economy‘s managing editor. To comment, email editor@talenteconomy.io.
