Samples of various employee benefits brochures are shown in a photo illustration, in Toronto on Tuesday, July 17, 2018. Mercer says Canadian defined benefit pension plans continued to improve in the second quarter of 2023.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Giordano Ciampini
TORONTO – Mercer says Canadian defined benefit pension plans continued to improve in the second quarter of 2023.
That’s despite the U.S. debt ceiling scare and the lingering effects of the banking crises south of the border.
Mercer says pension funds’ investment returns were mostly positive in the second quarter, and increases in bond yields helped reduce plan liabilities.
The company says the median solvency ratio of defined benefit plans in its database ticked upward to 119 per cent at the end of June.
Statistics Canada says in 2020, more than 4.4 million Canadians were covered by a defined benefit pension plan.
The agency says these types of plans have become less and less common in the last few decades, as employers have been switching to defined contribution plans.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 4, 2023.
