Pensions in Canada

A few quick facts about Pensions in Canada:

Pensions: Who has what

◊ 84% of public service workers have pensions.

◊ 78% of these plans are gold plated defined benefit pensions

◊ 25% of private sector workers have a pension plan

◊ 16% of these plans are gold plated defined benefit pensions

◊ 11 million workers, or 60 per cent, of Canada’s workers have no pension at all

◊ 8 million or 45 per cent, have no pensions or registered retirement savings plans (RRSPs)

(Source: Globe and Mail - Friday, Oct. 16, 2009)

What you should know:

◊ 17.6 million: Number of people in the Canadian work force.

◊ 11 million: Number of Canadian workers without pension plans.

◊ 4 million: Number of those workers with registered retirement savings plans.

◊ 10,000: Number of pension plans in Canada.

◊ 4.5 million: Workers with pension plans who have defined benefit plans that guarantee the pension income of retirees until they die.

◊ 55 per cent: Amount of those plans held by public sector employees.

◊ $25,000: Average pension per year.

(Source: Infometrica, University of Toronto professor Keith Ambachtsheer)