|
|
Stats Can Finds More Women Joining Pension Plans
Toronto Star
September 22, 2004
OTTAWA - More working women were being covered by registered pension plans in 2002, says Statistics Canada.
In fact, while the number of women in a registered plan increased by 2.4 per cent to just under 2.57 million, the number of men in a similar plan fell 0.1 per cent to 2.96 million.
"In total, more than 5.52 million workers were covered by 14,376 registered pension plans at the end of 2002, up one per cent from a year earlier and the fifth consecutive annual increase," the agency said today.
However, the growth did not keep pace with the four per cent rise in employment.
"Women made significant gains in public administration, educational and health care services, retail trade and finance, insurance and real estate," the agency said.
For men, the slight drop occurred in the private sector even though the number of males covered in the public sector rose slightly.
The agency also found that:
Coverage rates for men declined to 39.9 per cent in 2002 from 41.8 per cent in 2000, even though the number of working men increased.
Coverage rates for women remained stable at about 39.2 per cent from 1999 to 2002.
At the end of 2002, total annual contributions stood at $23.5 billion, up 14 per cent from 2001.
Between 2001 and 2002, employer contributions rose 18 per cent while employee contributions increased five per cent.
"In fact, many employers had to make special payments - for example, for actuarial deficiencies and unfunded liabilities - in addition to their normal contributions in 2002."
In another report, the agency said that as of March 31, 2004, trusteed pension funds had assets worth $652.9 billion, 22.9 per cent higher than the $531.2 billion at the same time in 2003, which was the lowest level since 1999.
"Assets rose 4.6 per cent in the first quarter compared with the last quarter of 2003, the fourth quarterly gain in a row," the agency said.
"Pension funds had revenues of $18.2 billion and expenditures of $14.2 billion between January and March, for a cash flow of $4.0 billion. This was down considerably from the $14.5 billion cash flow of the previous quarter, but it was the fourth positive cash flow in a row."
Profits hit $5.9 billion. However, losses on stock sales were also very high at $5.7 billion.
"As a result, most of the funds' positive cash flow came from contributions and other forms of investment income, such as interest and dividends. Almost all the losses were limited to a few very large funds.
"Employer contributions were $4.7 billion, but well below the record $6.8 billion in the fourth quarter 2003," the agency said.
About 5.5 million workers belong to employer pension plans. Of these, about 4.5 million are in trusteed plans.
"The remaining one million workers with employer pension plans are covered by the consolidated revenue funds of the federal and provincial governments, or by insurance company contracts or Government of Canada annuities."
|
|
