Introduction

The descriptions of the ten survey countries' employer-provided pension plans in Appendix 1 are sketches that highlight those characteristics of the plans that are most relevant to this study. They focus on recent trends in and the current state of coverage of the labor force, the structure of benefits and plan financing, the relationship of the employer-provided pension tier with the public pension, and such current issues as financial literacy, regulatory reforms, and funding shortfalls. They are not intended to be encyclopedic accounts.

Australia

The Australian employer-provided pension system stands out from other industrial country systems in two respects: Its coverage has more than doubled in the past quarter century (among employed persons, coverage is close to universal) and the dominant type of pension, having been defined benefit, is now defined contribution. The new system, called the Superannuation Guarantee, has been said to have accumulated enough assets to acquire all the listed companies in Australia (Robertson 2008). Notwithstanding these improvements, an issue of adequacy arises because of a means-tested first tier known as the Age Pension, the benefit of which erodes as income from the second tier and other sources increases. The Superannuation Guarantee was expected to obviate the need for the Age Pension. The share of the population receiving it is about the same as before, but its average amount is less, and there is a higher share of “part-Age Pensioners.”