Boston College Researchers Give Statistical Snapshot Of U.S. Pension System

By Staff Writer

July 23, 2001 at 08:00 PM

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NU Online News Service, July 23, 2:05 p.m. – The Pension Rights Center, Washington, has published a report that gives a statistical snapshot of the U.S. pension system.

The report includes 21 tables and charts of data from government agencies and private research institutes.

One table, based on federal survey figures, shows that 28% of U.S. households had Individual Retirement Accounts in 1998, and that 53% of the IRA households also had employer-sponsored pension benefits.

Only half of U.S. households with IRAs had more than $20,000 in IRA assets, according to Alicia Munnell and Annika Sunden, the Boston College researchers who compiled the report.

The researchers found that 43% of households with annual incomes between $50,000 and $49,999 had IRAs, and that 65% of households with annual incomes over $100,000 had IRAs.

Half of the households in the $50,000 to $49,999 income category had more than $20,000 in IRA assets, while half of the households in the over-$100,000 category had more than $70,000 in IRA assets.

The report is available on the Web, at http://www.pensioncoverage.net/Papers.htm

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