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Title: Public Pensions Support Race, Class, and Gender Equity in California
Citation Type: Miscellaneous
Publication Year: 2023
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Abstract: This report analyzes the impact of public sector employment and defined-benefit pensions—which provide secure monthly retirement income based on salary and years of service—on poverty and wealth outcomes by race, gender, and educational attainment in California. Based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau, this report complements the author’s national-level study, Closing the Gap: The Role of Public Pensions in Reducing Retirement Inequality, available at https://www.nirsonline.org/reports/closingthegap/.1 We find that public pensions play an outsized role in the retirement security of every major demographic group in California, with the strongest impact on women and people of color. It is also a powerful tool for reducing wealth inequality. As private pension coverage declines, public pensions remain a critical bulwark of middle-class retirement security alongside Social Security, particularly for marginalized communities who have been historically shut out of other wealth-building opportunities. Detailed findings are as follows:1. Public sector employment plays a critical role in the retirement security of all racial groups in California, with particularly large effects on Black and Latino workers... Pensions continue to be a critical source of retirement income for many California seniors, reducing retiree poverty and near-poverty across race, gender, and educational attainment. Pensions’ anti-poverty effect is the largest for Black retirees, Latino retirees, and retirees without a four-year college degree... Pension payments to adults age 55 and older in California represent $569 billion in household wealth, boosting middle-class family net worth and narrowing race-, gender-, and class-based wealth gaps.
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Authors: Nari Rhee, By
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Data Collections: IPUMS CPS
Topics: Aging and Retirement, Gender, Labor Force and Occupational Structure, Race and Ethnicity
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