NEWS for North Dakotans
Agriculture Communication, North Dakota State University
7 Morrill Hall, Fargo, ND 58105-5665
February 17, 2000
The number of North Dakota public employees receiving periodic benefit payments from their respective retirement systems rose by 60.2 percent during the past decade. There were 5,961 public employees drawing benefits during fiscal year 1986-87, compared to 9,549 in 1997-98, according to a recent Economic Brief released from the North Dakota State Data Center at North Dakota State University.
"It is important to monitor this trend over time," says Richard Rathge, data center director. "It is critical to maintain an effective balance between those who are paying into retirement systems and beneficiaries who are withdrawing from their systems. As our population ages, this balance may become strained."
North Dakota has 13 public employee retirement systems: two state-administered and 11 locally administered systems. Membership in these systems has grown by more than 5,000 employees, or 21.3 percent, since 1986. There were 25,478 members in fiscal year 1986-87 and 30,909 members in 1997-98.
The ratio of receipts over payments as a percentage of all cash and security holdings declined from 17.4 percent in 1982 to 7.6 percent in fiscal year 1996-97. However, in 1998 receipts into the North Dakota state and local employee retirement systems exceeded payments by about 15 percent, or $342 million (largely due to earnings on investments).
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Source: Richard Rathge (701) 231-8621
Editor: Dean Hulse (701) 231-6136
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