The average full career (30 years work) pension for a retired public employee in California was $68,673 in 2015, not including benefits. This is in comparison to the average pay (not including benefits) for an active full-time worker in the private sector in California, which in 2015 was $54,326, and to the maximum Social Security Benefit for a high wage earner retiring at age 66, which in 2015 was $32,244. Put another way, the average public employee retiree with 30 years of service collects a pension (not including benefits) that is 26% greater than the average pay for a non-retired full time private sector worker, and more than twice the maximum Social Security benefit.
There is ongoing public debate over the financial sustainability of public sector pensions. In California, significant work has already been done to evaluate how required contributions fluctuate according to market conditions, and incremental progress has begun towards reforms to improve the resiliency of the system. At the same time, while there is a great deal of anecdotal reporting on how much of a pension benefit, on average, California’s state and local workers can expect to receive when they retire, there remains substantial disagreement over the accurate number. This study is focused on that specific question.
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