Brief How Have Teacher Pensions Changed since the Great Recession?
Richard W. Johnson, Erald Kolasi
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Most states provide less generous pensions to teachers hired in 2018 than to teachers hired in 2008. Over the past decade, 43 states raised the contributions that teachers must make to their retirement plan or cut the retirement benefits they will receive. Nearly one-half of state teacher plans raised the age at which teachers can begin collecting their pension, and nearly one-third reduced the share of salary that a pension replaces. Among plans that made these changes between 2008 and 2018, the average retirement age increased almost five years and the average replacement rate fell nearly 6 percentage points.

Research Areas Education Wealth and financial well-being Aging and retirement Taxes and budgets
Tags Pensions Wages and nonwage compensation Teachers State and local tax issues Retirement policy Beyond high school: education and training
Policy Centers Income and Benefits Policy Center