NJ’s Recent Pension Strategy Gets Good Marks

But it will take years to make up for long history of poor funding, report says

October 20, 2022 | njspotlightnews.org

From ramping up state payments to requiring regular risk assessments, New Jersey has enacted a number of key policy changes in recent years to improve the health of one of the nation’s worst-funded state retirement plans.

A new report that looks closely at the condition of the nation’s state-run pension systems recognizes some of New Jersey’s progress, even as figures included in the analysis also suggest the state still has a way to go to make up for a long history of poor pension funding.

NJ SEED: For far too many years NJ’s elected leaders have avoided their responsibility to fully fund the public employee retirement system. New Jersey’s $93 billion pension fund covers the retirements of roughly 800,000 current and retired public workers. The state has a moral as well as a legal obligation to fund and protect investments to guarantee public employees a secure retirement. The steps recently taken are commendable, but the system remains seriously underfunded.