Reform of Pensions for Federal Government Employees in the United States

Abstract

In 1983, the United States reformed the retirement program covering most federal government employees. The Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) was closed to new members and all new federal government employees were required to join the new system, called the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS). This reform succeeded in partially privatizing the provision of retirement income to federal government workers and over the long run will reduce the unfunded liability associated with the retirement benefits of federal workers.