NASRA supports state-based public pension governance rooted in stakeholder input and policy-driven decisions, with core design features including mandatory participation, shared financing, pooled risk, and lifetime income for targeted retirement security. buff.ly/Pu0qR0c

A sound amortization policy helps pension plans systematically reduce unfunded liabilities, strengthen long-term funding, and keep future pension costs manageable. buff.ly/4kWyZdj #muniland

Sound pension funding begins with sound assumptions. Actuaries use demographic trends, like retirement ages & life expectancy & economic expectations, like wage growth & investment returns, to help ensure pensions are funded responsibly for the future. buff.ly/I5sA695

BLS est. st. & local govt employment fell by 16K jobs from July to August '26 & is down 27K this past year. The private sector added 46,000 jobs in September. St. & local govts employ about 20.6 million people, or 13% of the U.S. workforce. buff.ly/whLSwNQ #muniland

Updated NASRA Issue Brief: Nearly all state & local govt employees contribute toward pension benefit costs. The brief examines contribution plan designs, post-2008 reforms, variable contribution rates, recent rate reductions, & emerging trends. buff.ly/4viRVwe #muniland

Public pension funding rests on a basic principle: contributions & investment earnings must, over time, equal benefits & admin costs. Since public pensions build assets over 30 to 60 years, these funding assumptions are inherently long term. buff.ly/eBQnPzl #muniland

Public retirement plans now universally require employee contributions, and many adjust contributions and benefits as conditions change. NASRA highlights this shared responsibility in resources on shared financing and hybrid plan designs. buff.ly/EpsW3GL #muniland

Public pension finances are subject to significant reporting, disclosure & scrutiny. S&P, Moody’s & Fitch each publish detailed methodologies for evaluating pension obligations as part of state and local government credit ratings. Learn more at buff.ly/QOhTDGd #muniland

State & local gov't employment fell by an estimated 50,000 jobs in July. Over the past year, states lost 34,000 jobs and local governments 42,000. Still, employment remains 587,000 above its Feb. 2020 peak. August numbers are due 9/4. buff.ly/Vp41l1I #muniland

Most state and local government pensions provide COLAs to help protect retirement income from inflation. NASRA’s latest brief looks at how public pension COLAs are structured, what drives them, and how states have changed them in recent years. buff.ly/CBEP3Bv #muniland

Nearly all state & local govt employees must be in an employer-sponsored retirement plan, & contributing toward its cost, is mandatory. Employee contributions help fund plans & in plans w/variable rates, may also mean sharing some plan risk. buff.ly/y7NCYjp #muniland

The share of state and local government spending used to fund pension benefits declined to 5.16% in FY 2023, down from 5.34% in FY 2022, as overall government spending grew faster than employer pension contributions. buff.ly/K32UWWh #muniland

Public ret. systems balance retirement security for employees, workforce needs for employers & efficient public services for taxpayers. Long-term strength depends on flexible, locally tailored plans built on shared costs, pooled assets & lifetime income. buff.ly/MCYx4Or

Explore NASRA’s research on public retirement systems, including the Public Fund Survey, industry reports and resources, and current data on assets, active members, and annuitants for more than 140 state and local systems. buff.ly/WXHz1Im #muniland

Public pension plans’ median annualized 5-year investment return was 7.2% for the period ended 12/31/25, compared with a 7.0% median investment return assumption. Results vary by plan, & five-year performance is only one measure of a long-term assumption. buff.ly/liAI94s

Public retirement systems manage many kinds of risks, from investments to operations to pension funding. Strong risk assessment helps systems identify, measure, and manage the factors that affect long-term benefit security. buff.ly/Dx7MVi3 #muniland

Public pension funding is a shared responsibility. Since '09, 39 states raised employee contribution rates for at least one public plan, often for current workers & new hires, reflecting that both employers & employees pay in supporting these plans. buff.ly/b4jajH7

Updated: COLAs play an important role in preserving retirees’ purchasing power, but they also increase costs to the system. As inflation rises, policymakers review how COLAs are designed & funded while balancing benefit adequacy & plan costs. buff.ly/Rfq4WHm #muniland

The Federal Reserve reports state & local defined benefit public pension assets totaled an estimated $6.85 trillion as of Dec. 31, 2025, up 2.1% from the prior quarter and 11.1% from one year earlier. A new update is expected this month. buff.ly/x2b5N48 #muniland

Public retirement systems should embed enterprise-wide risk management in fiduciary governance; addressing cyber, operational, investment, funding, & business risks, to strengthen resiliency, protect assets, sustain services,& secure benefits. buff.ly/is7KCju #muniland