Mississippi Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) vs Operating Engineers Local 324 Pension Fund
Side-by-side pension health comparison from DOL and public plan data
Mississippi Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) and Operating Engineers Local 324 Pension Fund are meaningfully apart on the LakeQuality pension-health rubric: Mississippi Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) grades C while Operating Engineers Local 324 Pension Fund grades A. Funding ratios: 60% vs 105%.
Operating Engineers Local 324 Pension Fund comes out ahead on the composite rubric. For a participant in either plan, the spread is informative but not directly actionable — pension participation is not portable, so the relevant question is what each plan's funded-status trajectory means for that participant's benefit security.
Verdict
Operating Engineers Local 324 Pension Fund has a stronger Pension Health Score of 100/100 (A) compared to Mississippi Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) at 54/100 (C). Funding ratios differ by 45.0 percentage points (105.1% vs 60.1%). Operating Engineers Local 324 Pension Fund covers 230,039 participants.
| Metric | Mississippi Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) | Operating Engineers Local 324 Pension Fund |
|---|---|---|
| Health Score Composite of funding ratio, trend, and PBGC risk | 54/100 (C) | 100/100 (A)* |
| Funding Ratio Assets as % of liabilities (100%+ is fully funded) | 60.1% | 105.1%* |
| Total Assets | $29.0B | $24.8B |
| Total Liabilities | $48.3B | $23.6B* |
| Unfunded Liability | $19.3B | $0* |
| Participants | 322,000 | 230,039 |
| 1-Year Investment Return | 5.3% | 5.7%* |
| Plan Type | public | multiemployer |
| PBGC Risk Level | high | low |
| Sponsor | State of Mississippi | IUOE Local 324 |
Operating Engineers Local 324 Pension Fund has a stronger Pension Health Score of 100/100 (A) compared to Mississippi Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) at 54/100 (C). Funding ratios differ by 45.0 percentage points (105.1% vs 60.1%). Operating Engineers Local 324 Pension Fund covers 230,039 participants.