Pension Enhancements and the Retention of Public Employees

Bibliographic Data

ID3219547
AuthorsCory Koedel (corresponding author), P Brett Xiang (0000-0003-0961-5645, Cory Koedel is an Associate Professor in the Department of Economics and the Truman School of Public Affairs at the University of Missouri. P. Brett Xiang is a Graduate Student in the Department of Economics at the University of Missouri.)
Year2017
Volume70
Issue2
Pages519-551
Publication date2017-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueIndustrial and Labor Relations Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0019-7939 • E-ISSN: 2162-271X
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0019793916650452
OpenAlexW2403646467
ISBN9793916650452
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited46

The authors use data from workers in the largest public-sector occupation in the United States-teaching-to examine the effect of pension enhancements on employee retention. Specifically, they study a 1999 enhancement to the benefit formula for public school teachers in St. Louis, Missouri, that resulted in an immediate and dramatic increase in their incentives to remain in covered employment. To identify the effect of the enhancement on teacher retention, the analysis leverages the fact that the strength of the incentive increase varied across the workforce depending on how far teachers were from retirement eligibility when it was enacted. The results indicate that the St. Louis enhancement-which was structurally similar to enhancements that were enacted in other public pension plans across the United States in the late 1990s and early 2000s-was not a cost-effective way to increase employee retention

Business · Demographic economics · Economic growth · Economics · Incentive · Labour economics · Pension · Political science · Public sector · Workforce · Finance · Financial Literacy, Pension, Retirement Analysis · Fiscal Policy and Economic Growth · Retirement, Disability, and Employment

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