The Retirement Security Report Policy Scores (RSR Policy Scores) are an analysis of proposed legislation that would substantially change public sector retirement benefits, using the Retirement Security Report (RSR) methodology.

  • All RSR Policy Scores compare proposed changes to the status quo, and provide details on the effects of changes to expected benefit payments, total value of benefits earned, and Retirement Benefit Scores.
  • Like other RSR research projects, the RSR Policy Scores consider the likely effects of policy changes for different cohorts of workers, including Short-Term Workers (10 years or less), Medium-Term Workers (10 to 20 years), and Full-Career Workers.

 

The intent of the RSR Policy Scores is to give stakeholders an understanding of the trade-offs associated with proposed policy changes. It is not intended as an endorsement of or opposition to the proposed changes, as local stakeholders may or may not have a broader array of factors they are weighing up with considering changes to a public sector retirement system.

In addition to analyzing the effects of proposed changes for different cohorts of workers, Equable also gives an overall assessment for the proposed changes. This overall scale is intended to capture the net effects of proposed legislation, keeping in mind that policy changes often mean some groups might gain while others do not. A challenge for policymakers is weighing up those trade-offs in the context of their policy goals.

The overall assessment is based on the average change to Retirement Benefit Scores that any proposed legislation is likely to produce.

  • The Retirement Benefit Score is the core measurement approach of the RSR project, and it takes into account what elements of a retirement plan are most important to each cohort of workers at any given stage — for example, changes to COLA rules matter a lot more to Full-Career Workers than Short-Term Workers, and the interest credits on withdrawn contributions matter more to the later group than the former. (See the RSR methodology for more details on how Retirement Benefit Scores are calculated.)

The overall assessment scale puts the average change in Retirement Benefit Score across all three worker cohorts on the following spectrum:

  • Average change of less than 0.5 points = No Effective Change
  • Average change of 0.5 to 3 points = Slight Change
  • Average change of 3.1 points to 7.5 points = Moderate Change
  • Average change of 7.6 points or more = Significant Change

Since the Retirement Benefit Scores are out of 30 points, these measurements are roughly a 10% change or less, a 10% to 25% change, and greater than 25% change in points scored.

The RSR Policy Scores overall assessment meter reflects this scale and uses the following score indicators:

 

About the Retirement Security Report:
The RSR is a universe of in-depth research, interactive tools and other resources to shed light on the quality and value of retirement benefits for all public workers. All RSR 
projects are based on data from our comprehensive benefit database of retirement plans offered to public workers and use an open-source scoring methodology that 
accounts for three primary criteria: Eligibility, Income Adequacy (based on a 70% pre-retirement income replacement rate), and Flexibility & Mobility. 
See all RSR research here.