Quarterly Survey of Public Pensions

Quarterly Survey of Public Pensions

The Quarterly Survey of Public Pensions is a quarterly survey that provides national summary data on the revenues, expenditures, and composition of assets of the largest defined benefit public employee retirement systems for state and local governments. This survey currently consists of a panel of 100 retirement systems, which comprise 89.4 percent of financial activity among such entities, based on the 2007 Census of Governments.

After a census has been taken, it is considered best practice to reselect the largest 100 retirement systems. The first quarter for 2009 presents data from the new universe of the 100 largest systems. The previous quarters represent data from the old universe. Five of the 100 units from the old universe were replaced with new retirement systems.

Time Series/Trend Charts

State & Local Government – 2012 Third Quarter

Changes in Asset Classification Effective 2012: Q1

Effective with the first quarter of 2012, the Quarterly Survey of Public Pensions revised the survey form to implement changes in asset classification. These changes apply to the categories designated as corporate stocks, corporate bonds, federal government securities, and other securities. Federally-sponsored agency securities are now classified under federal government securities instead of corporate bonds. Private equity, venture capital, and leveraged buy-outs are now classified under corporate stocks instead of other securities. Due to these changes in asset classification, there are shifts in the distribution of assets from corporate bonds to federal government securities and from other securities to corporate stocks. However, since investment decisions guide the distribution of assets, we cannot calculate the exact impact that the changes in classification had on the asset distribution for the first quarter of 2012. As such, for the abovementioned asset categories, any data comparisons between the first quarter of 2012 and prior quarters should be exercised with caution.

Public Pensions Information Sheet [PDF, 586KB]

Table	Description	File Formats
1	Cash and Security Holdings of Major Public Employee Retirement Systems	[XLS, 41KB]
2	Earnings on Investments, Contributions, and Payments of Major Public Employee Retirement Systems	[XLS, 38KB]
3	Percent Distribution of the Cash and Security Holdings of Major Public Employee Retirement Systems	[XLS, 41KB]