Pension Policy

The headline figures are frightening. The financial crisis has meant that private pension funds lost 23% of their investment’s value, or some USD 5.4 trillion on aggregate in the OECD, in 2008. Stock markets fell further in 2009 before recovering to reach a level 6.4% higher on 21 May 2009 than at the start of the year. Across the OECD, economic output is expected to fall by 4.3% in 2009 and growth is not expected to return until 2011. Projections of unemployment rates show an increase from a trough of 5.6% in 2007 to 9.9% in 2010 in the OECD area. Thus, what started as a financial crisis has become an economic and social crisis.

Pensions at a Glance 2009: Retirement-Income Systems in OECD Countries

Pension Policy

Weathering the Storm