NEWS
RELEASE
| FOR RELEASE: | Immediate — Wednesday, October 4, 2006 |
| CONTACT: | Michael Moran • 518/465-7517 Ext. 208 E-mail: michael.moran@bcnys.org |
NEW YORK GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES
CONTRIBUTE LESS TO PENSIONS AND RECEIVE MORE, CENSUS DATA SHOW
ALBANY—New York’s state and local government employees pay a smaller share of pension costs, but collect higher benefits, than public employees in other states, according to a Public Policy Institute analysis of new data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
State and local government retirees in New York collected an average $23,891 in pension benefits in 2005, some 16 percent above the national average, according to the Institute.
New York’s state and local governments contributed a total of $6.9 billion in taxpayer funding for pensions in 2004-05, according to the Census Bureau. That was up from $4.2 billion the previous year, and $1.5 billion in 2001.
New York government employees contributed just over $1 billion in 2005, less than 4 percent of total receipts to the state’s pension systems. Nationwide, state and local government workers contributed an average 9 percent of pension fund revenue.
The New York State figures include data for 14 separate pension funds. Those include the Common Retirement Fund, covering most state and municipal employees in New York; and the Teachers Retirement System, which covers most public-school teachers and some other public employees.
More than 732,000 New York state and local government workers collected public pensions in 2005. That figure represented 10.6 percent of the nationwide total of state and local government pension recipients; New York's population that year was 6.6 percent of the U.S. population.
State |
Employee contributions as % of total receipts |
|||
| Rank | Average benefit |
Rank, employee contributions as % of total receipts |
||
1 |
Connecticut | $28,170 |
6 |
16% |
2 |
Colorado | 26,527 |
32 |
9% |
3 |
Nevada | 25,953 |
46 |
3% |
4 |
New Jersey | 25,953 |
3 |
18% |
5 |
Rhode Island | 25,080 |
11 |
13% |
6 |
California | 24,244 |
31 |
9% |
7 |
Alaska | 24,014 |
24 |
11% |
8 |
NEW YORK | 23,891 |
45 |
4% |
9 |
Oregon | 22,776 |
50 |
0% |
10 |
Illinois | 22,610 |
10 |
14% |
11 |
Georgia | 22,543 |
34 |
8% |
12 |
Wisconsin | 22,286 |
38 |
6% |
13 |
Texas | 21,480 |
22 |
12% |
14 |
Ohio | 21,100 |
21 |
12% |
15 |
Massachusetts | 20,902 |
12 |
13% |
16 |
Pennsylvania | 20,385 |
28 |
10% |
17 |
Hawaii | 20,310 |
44 |
4% |
18 |
Minnesota | 20,032 |
26 |
10% |
19 |
Arizona | 19,326 |
7 |
16% |
20 |
Maine | 19,281 |
27 |
10% |
21 |
Florida | 18,963 |
49 |
1% |
22 |
New Mexico | 18,630 |
9 |
14% |
23 |
Missouri | 18,327 |
30 |
9% |
24 |
Kentucky | 18,199 |
2 |
18% |
25 |
Maryland | 18,099 |
40 |
6% |
26 |
Washington | 17,754 |
43 |
4% |
27 |
Nebraska | 17,577 |
13 |
13% |
28 |
Louisiana | 17,567 |
23 |
11% |
29 |
Mississippi | 17,474 |
8 |
15% |
30 |
Michigan | 17,088 |
41 |
5% |
31 |
Utah | 16,737 |
48 |
1% |
32 |
Alabama | 16,658 |
20 |
12% |
33 |
South Carolina | 16,401 |
4 |
17% |
34 |
Virginia | 16,390 |
47 |
2% |
35 |
Arkansas | 16,207 |
42 |
5% |
36 |
Oklahoma | 15,991 |
16 |
12% |
37 |
North Carolina | 15,889 |
15 |
12% |
38 |
New Hampshire | 15,486 |
1 |
22% |
39 |
Delaware | 15,003 |
39 |
6% |
40 |
Idaho | 13,195 |
18 |
12% |
41 |
Tennessee | 13,065 |
37 |
7% |
42 |
Indiana | 12,900 |
29 |
10% |
43 |
South Dakota | 12,556 |
35 |
8% |
44 |
Vermont | 12,423 |
17 |
12% |
45 |
Wyoming | 12,384 |
25 |
11% |
46 |
West Virginia | 12,348 |
36 |
8% |
47 |
Montana | 12,077 |
5 |
17% |
48 |
Kansas | 11,741 |
19 |
12% |
49 |
North Dakota | 11,661 |
14 |
13% |
50 |
Iowa | 11,591 |
33 |
9% |
| U.S. average | $20,474 |
9% |
||
The Census data used in the Institute's analysis are available at www.census.gov/govs/www/retire.html.
-30-