U.S. Pension Plans Have Surplus

The federal pension insurance agency reported Monday that its single-employer pension plan had a $3.5-billion surplus last year, only the second time in more than two decades it recorded a net surplus.

In its annual report to Congress, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. said the plan had $15.3 billion in assets to cover liabilities of $11.8 billion at the end of the 1997 fiscal year. The agency attributed the improvement to nearly $2.8 billion in investment earnings, triple the investment income of the previous year.

The agency’s separate insurance program for multi-employer plans also recorded a financial gain in 1997. The plan reported a $219-million gain, based on assets of $596 million and $377 million in liabilities. That program has maintained a surplus for more than 15 years.

The single-employer program covers pensions for about 33 million Americans, and the multi-employer program covers 8.8 million.