Wisconsin Right Now

Public employee pension systems are some of the largest financial liabilities on state government balance sheets. The 50 states have over $4.5 trillion in cumulative pension liabilities combined, roughly double the amount all 50 states spent in fiscal 2020. For years, state pension systems were woefully underfunded in much of the country, but according to a recent report from the Pew Charitable Trusts , this trend may be reversing. Driven by higher investment from both employees and employers, state pension systems have largely stabilized as of 2020. Since 2007, states across the country have more than doubled annual pension contributions, often cutting funding for other programs to do so. Still, some states are better positioned to pay public sector employees in retirement than others. In Wisconsin, estimated pension liabilities totaled an estimated $118.7 billion in 2020. Meanwhile, the state's pension assets totaled $125.0 billion. Considering both assets and liabilities, Wi...