The Trillion Dollar Gap

A Pew Charitable Trusts study finds states face a $1 trillion shortfall in retiree benefits.

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Pension Fraud in New Jersey Puts Focus on Illinois

August 23, 2010

The federal government’s crackdown on the State of New Jersey this week for misrepresenting the condition of its pension funds raises a question: Who else might have pension numbers that could draw regulatory fire?

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The Public Pension Outrage and Alan Greenspan's Pension

August 17, 2010

In recent weeks, there has been a serious effort by the conservatives and even many centrists to whip up anger at public sector workers over their pensions. The basic story is that public sector workers get better pensions on average than their private sector counterparts.

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Teachers' Retirement System of Illinois (TRS) Responds to the Chicago Tribune

August 16, 2010

Read TRS’ response to Robert Novy-Marx and Joshua Rauh August 13 Chicago Tribune commentary describing the unfunded liability problems faced by Illinois’ public pension systems -- Can the Illinois pension catastrophe be stopped?

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At Issue 8-15-10- Pension Crisis

August 15, 2010

There’s no debate that Illinois’ pension plan is one reason why the state’s finances are in such bad shape. However, the answer to resolving that problem is far from simple. This week, WBBM’s Political Editor Craig Dellimore hears from both sides of the ledger.

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IRSI Response to the State Journal-Register *printed on July 26, 2010*

August 11, 2010

Separating fact, fiction regarding public pensions

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Pension Debt a Symptom of State’s Problems – Not Cause

August 11, 2010

Read Ralph Martire’s most recent column, “Pension debt a symptom of state’s problems – not cause”, below. This article appeared in the State Journal Register on Wednesday, August 11, 2010. We anticipate it also will run in the Joliet Herald News.

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Economists: The Missing Heroes of the State and Local Government Pension Crisis

August 10, 2010

The latest cool thing for the Washington elite is to beat up on school teachers and firefighters for their overly generous pensions. It turns out that some of these public sector employees get enough money in their pensions that they can actually enjoy a decent retirement.

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Pension Advocate Speaks Out

August 3, 2010

Bukola Bello, director of the Illinois Retirement Security Initiative (IRSI), told the audience of about 50 people at the July 22 town hall meeting that Illinois pensions are not overly generous and that Illinois "ranks in the bottom 20 percent of all states for retirement benefits paid to state workers."

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Analysis & Reports

Illinois Public Employee Retirement Systems

Get the facts on the five state-funded retirement systems. Who gets a public pension, and what do they get?

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Aren’t defined benefit pension systems a financial burden to taxpayers?

A. No. Public employee annuities are quite modest. The average annual pension benefit for a retired public employee in Illinois is $17,112 per year, which includes the 28 percent of employees not covered by Social Security who rely solely on their pension for retirement income.

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