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State Population Not Sole Factor in PBGC Benefits

  1. The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) paid $5.4 billion in benefits to 842,000 retirees nationwide in 2014, it has reported. It also has broken down that data by state, but it would be a mistake to assume that just because a state has a high population, it will therefore have one of the highest benefit tallies.

    The top five states regarding PBGC benefits in 2014 were:

    1. Ohio: $559,559,609 to 79,579 individuals
    2. Pennsylvania: $479,343,829 to 81,700 individuals
    3. Florida: $397,278,407 to 55,901 individuals
    4. Michigan: $383,347,503 to 47,463 individuals
    5. California: $344,030,486 to 42,168 individuals

    All of the top five states are among the 10 most populous. But population apparently is not the sole factor behind a state having a high amount of PBGC benefits. For instance, Ohio received the most PBGC benefits of any state, but California, the most populous state and with 3.5 times as many people as Ohio, is 5th. Furthermore, in Texas, the second most populous state, the PBGC paid $149,139,006 to 23,835 people — 25% of Ohio’s dollar figure and 26% as many people as it benefitted in Ohio.

    Age does not appear to be the only important factor either: Of the top five states in the PBGC list, only two — Florida and Pennsylvania — are among the 10 states the U.S. Census Bureau says had the highest median age.

    U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows that three of the top five PBGC-listed states — Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania — are in regions that have the highest percentage of private-sector employees participating in defined benefit plans.