United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 2005-11-03 monographic deposited born digital 73 p. GA 1.13:GAO-06-42 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-06-42 P0b002ee1803956a1 f:d0642 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-23 GAOREPORTS-GAO-06-42 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-GAO-06-42 GAO-06-42 Employee retirement plans Fringe benefits Older workers Pensions Retirement benefits Retirement income Comparative analysis Cash balance plans Defined benefit plans Other Written Product A40459 The nation's private defined benefit (DB) pension system, a key contributor to the financial security of millions of Americans, is in long-term decline. Since 1980, the number of active participants in Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) insured single employer DB plans has dropped from 27.3 percent of all national private wage and salary workers in 1980, to about 15 percent in 2002, and more recently the PBGC has assumed billions of dollars in unfunded benefit obligations from bankrupt plan sponsors. Some analysts have identified hybrid DB plans like cash balance (CB) plans as a possible means to revitalize this declining system. However, conversions from traditional DB plans to CB plans have sometimes been controversial because of the effect conversions may have on the benefits of workers of different ages. As House and Senate committees consider comprehensive pension reform legislation that includes efforts to resolve uncertainties about CB plans, GAO was asked to (1) review current research about the implications of CB conversions for employee benefits, (2) describe the prevalence and type of transition provisions used to protect workers' benefits in past CB conversions, and (3) estimate the effects of CB conversions on the benefits of individual participants under a hypothetical conversion to a typical CB plan from a typical traditional DB plan. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-06-42/html/GAOREPORTS-GAO-06-42.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-06-42/pdf/GAOREPORTS-GAO-06-42.pdf GAO-06-42 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-06-42 Other Written Product GAO-06-42; Private Pensions: Information on Cash Balance Pension Plans; Employee retirement plans Fringe benefits Older workers Pensions Retirement benefits Retirement income Comparative analysis Cash balance plans Defined benefit plans