Average Illinois Public Pension Catching Up To Average Salary
From the Chicago Daily Herald
The average pension for a retired public employee in Illinois is quickly approaching the average salary of those still working.
The gap has narrowed rapidly over the past decade, illustrating the problem of years of generous salary growth, compounded cost-of-living adjustments for pensioners and the financial perils of early retirement incentives, critics say.
"More and more people are making more in retirement than they did when they were working, and I just don't see how you can do that," said David From, Illinois state director for Americans for Prosperity, a national tax policy reform organization. "People in the public sector are not making a pauper's wage."
The average 2013 pension was $31,674 for retirees in nine statewide and metropolitan Chicago public pension systems for government workers, teachers, legislators, judges and university professors, a Daily Herald analysis shows. That's 60 percent of the $55,120 average salary for pension fund members who are still working.
Ten years ago, the average pension was less than half of the average salary.
Read more in our daily News Update...
From the Chicago Daily Herald
The average pension for a retired public employee in Illinois is quickly approaching the average salary of those still working.
The gap has narrowed rapidly over the past decade, illustrating the problem of years of generous salary growth, compounded cost-of-living adjustments for pensioners and the financial perils of early retirement incentives, critics say.
"More and more people are making more in retirement than they did when they were working, and I just don't see how you can do that," said David From, Illinois state director for Americans for Prosperity, a national tax policy reform organization. "People in the public sector are not making a pauper's wage."
The average 2013 pension was $31,674 for retirees in nine statewide and metropolitan Chicago public pension systems for government workers, teachers, legislators, judges and university professors, a Daily Herald analysis shows. That's 60 percent of the $55,120 average salary for pension fund members who are still working.
Ten years ago, the average pension was less than half of the average salary.
Read more in our daily News Update...