Economic Report President

TABLE 4-2.—Gender Differences in Pension Wealth, 1992Kind of pension planPercent with pensionwealthWomenMenRatio ofmale to femalemedianindividualpensionwealthFrom all jobs during lifetime: 1Defined-benefit .................................................................... 31 54 2.2Defined-contribution ............................................................. 28 38 1.7On current job only: 2Defined-benefit only .............................................................. 31 30 1.3Defined-contribution only ...................................................... 22 21 2.7Both .............................................................................................. 16 24 2.11Self-reported for all lifetime jobs, all nonretired non-self-employed respondents aged 51-61 in 1992 who workedsince 1982.2Pension providers’ administrative records for current job only, currently employed respondents aged 51-61 in 1992.Source: Health and Retirement Survey, Wave 1. For lifetime jobs data, custom tabulations by Marjorie Honig, October 1998;for current job data, Richard W. Johnson et al, “Gender Differences in Pension Wealth: Estimates Using Provider Data,” unpublishedpaper, August 1998.end. And as we have seen, many recipients of lump-sum payments dospend them rather than roll them over.DB plans provide benefits in the form of an annuity, which guaranteesan income for life, unless the plan provides, and the participantelects, a lump-sum payment option. The optional forms of annuity andlump sum are calculated using a uniform mortality table for all racesand both sexes combined, so that participants do not receive differentmonthly benefits simply because of their race or sex. However, whites(and Hispanics) and women have longer remaining life expectancies atage 55 than blacks and men, respectively, and so receive the stream ofbenefits over a longer period of time, on average.The accumulation in a DC plan, on the other hand, does not dependon life expectancy. But participants in DC plans cannot assure themselvesa guaranteed income for life, unless their plan provides a groupannuity option or they purchase an annuity on their own. DC plansthus pose the risk that the beneficiary will outlive his or her savings.The private market for annuities is subject to adverse selection, in thatthose who expect to live a long time are more likely to purchase annuities,and this drives up their price. This works to the disadvantage ofwomen in DC plans, since they are more likely than men to live longenough to run out of money if they do not have an annuity.Finally, market forces may cause wages to adjust to differences inemployers’ pension costs, so that workers who get more deferred pensioncompensation in one type of plan may “pay” for this benefit in theform of lower wages, or their wages may grow more slowly with timeon the job. All of these considerations leave it an open question162