Do public workers without Social Security get comparable benefits?

Abstract

The brief's key findings are: (1) About one quarter of state and local workers are not currently covered by Social Security. (2) Federal standards require that state and local plans provide their noncovered workers benefits equivalent to Social Security at the full retirement age. (3) This study explores whether the plans satisfy the federal standards, and whether the standards themselves ensure equivalent benefits. (4) The results show that public plans do adhere to the standards, and the standards satisfy the letter of the law. (5) But looking beyond the standards to see if plans also provide equal lifetime benefits suggests that a significant portion fall short for some of their members. (6) Policy options include updating the standards to a lifetime measure or, more importantly, requiring all public workers to be covered by Social Security.