Does Mortality Differ Between Public and Private Sector Workers?

The brief’s key findings are:

In projecting pension costs, state and local plans assume their workers will live longer than private sector workers. Is this assumption accurate and, if so, why?
The analysis confirms that public sector workers – particularly women – have lower mortality rates than their private sector counterparts.
The question is whether lower mortality reflects the nature of the job or the nature of the workers.
The answer is the workers – specifically their education levels. Controlling for education, the gap between public and private workers disappears.

Briefs