By Kevin Olineck
PERS Director
If you’ve been following recent conversations about the Oregon Public Employees Retirement System (PERS), you may have noticed some confusion around how the system works, especially when it comes to funding, investments, and benefit payouts.
We understand. PERS is a large, multilayered system built and modified over more than seven decades. It involves legislation, investment performance, employer contributions, and individual decisions by more than 415,000 members.
With so many moving parts, it’s easy for myths or misunderstandings to spread.
That’s why we believe clarity and transparency matter more than ever.
PERS is committed to transparency through its participation in the Oregon Transparency initiative, in which state agencies aim to help Oregonians learn more about how state government works, what your taxes support, and how decisions are made.
PERS aims for openness and accountability by making essential pension and operational information accessible to PERS members, news media, and the general public.
We do this every year by publishing three major reports:
These reports break down intricate data — ranging from membership trends to benefit payment details — so that you, our members, can better understand your PERS retirement benefits, make informed decisions about your retirement, and trust that the PERS system is managing your benefits professionally.
PERS’ dedication to clear, digestible, and transparent communications has been recognized with several awards from pension and communications industry groups. Awards include the National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems Certificate of Transparency (2024 and 2025) and the Government Finance Officers Association’s Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting (2022 and 2023). This dedication reflects Oregon state government’s commitment to transparency and accountability in its actions and interactions.
Now, let’s dig into the numbers that PERS is sharing. As of June 30, 2024:
- The average PERS benefit is $34,762 a year, and 60% of our retirees receive $3,000 or less a month.
- Fewer than 2% of PERS retirees are paid $9,000 or more a month.
- Those monthly benefits don’t just support retirees; they help fuel Oregon’s economy. In 2024, PERS paid out $4.88 billion in benefit payments, which translates to an economic value to Oregon of $5.55 billion when the full financial impact of these dollars spent in local communities is considered.
What about funding?
Yes, we have an unfunded actuarial liability* just like nearly every pension system, but we are actively addressing it.
Our funded status as of December 31, 2023, was 72%. Projections show that under a steady 6.9% return scenario, we could reach 100% funding by 2037.
When you look at the long game, it becomes clear: 73% of all PERS retirement benefit funding has come from investment income, not taxpayer dollars alone.
The PERS system operates through the collaboration of the Oregon Legislature, the PERS agency, PERS-participating employers, and Oregon State Treasury. State lawmakers give the system structure through statutes, Treasury oversees the system’s long-term investment strategies, members and employers make contributions, and the PERS agency makes sure the right person is paid the right amount at the right time. It’s a multilayered system with checks, balances, and regular reporting baked into its foundation.
We encourage the public to dig into these numbers themselves. They all can be found in PERS by the Numbers.
Next time you see a headline or tweet about PERS, we encourage you to ask: “What does the data say?”
(*An unfunded actuarial liability is the shortfall that occurs in a pension fund when the value of retirement benefits promised to pension plan members exceeds the amount of money the fund has available to pay them.)
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