PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Strong investment returns and last year’s cuts to public-employee retirement benefits have helped cut the Oregon pension system’s unfunded liability in half.
Public Employees Retirement System director Paul Cleary spoke Wednesday to a citizen panel that oversees pension fund investments. Cleary says the unfunded liability dropped from $16.3 billion at the end of 2011 to $8.1 billion at the end of last year.
The Oregonian reports (http://bit.ly/Lbwq6T ) that the pension fund now has 87 cents in assets for every dollar of liabilities.
Actuaries say benefit cuts last year shaved $5 billion off the unfunded liability and strong returns over the past two years reduced it by as much as $5 billion. A decrease in the assumed earnings rate increased the unfunded liability by up to $2 billion.
