Private Sector Multiemployer Pension Plans – A Primer

The brief’s key findings are:

• Private sector multiemployer pension plans, which are negotiated by a union with a group of employers, have become a focus of congressional interest.
•  Multiemployer plans have been hurt by an expansion of benefits during the 1990s and the twin financial crises since 2000.
•  Most are recovering, but a substantial minority faces serious funding problems.
•  These problems are exacerbated by unique structural challenges:
  • the cyclical nature of the construction industry, which covers the most plan participants;
  • a low ratio of active to total participants that increases the burden on underfunded plans; and
  • insufficient penalties for employers who withdraw from the plans.