“With defined benefit pensions, the entire burden of saving and investing money for a worker’s retirement falls on the employer, although some DB plans now require employees to contribute some money as well.”
At the large company I worked for toward the end of the 80’s how much a person got every month in retirement funds from their pension was determined by a formula usually based on salary and not years of service. There was a minimum salary point you had to make before you contributed any thing toward your own pension. The last year I was there you had to make around 25,000 dollars before pension funds started to be taken out. I remember you were well into three quarters of the year gone. The obvious intent was to screw most of the worker bees.
That same large company also had a 401k. I remember all the promises when it was implemented were broken in just a couple of years after. The 10 year averaging for a lump sum at retirement was totally eliminated. It was up to 7% matching funds. I made a killing on the interest alone early on: first year 16%, second year 12%, third year 9%. I made like 16,000 dollars for those 3 years.
Now the average American worker is little more than a slave. Americans employed in Industry in 75 was around 26.5%, now it is around 10%. This ain’t going to work.