Pennsylvania Public School Employees Retirement System (PSERS) vs Operating Engineers Local 324 Pension Fund
Side-by-side pension health comparison from DOL and public plan data
Pennsylvania Public School Employees Retirement System (PSERS) and Operating Engineers Local 324 Pension Fund are meaningfully apart on the LakeQuality pension-health rubric: Pennsylvania Public School Employees Retirement System (PSERS) grades C while Operating Engineers Local 324 Pension Fund grades A. Funding ratios: 58% 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 Pennsylvania Public School Employees Retirement System (PSERS) at 54/100 (C). Funding ratios differ by 47.3 percentage points (105.1% vs 57.8%). Operating Engineers Local 324 Pension Fund covers 230,039 participants.
| Metric | Pennsylvania Public School Employees Retirement System (PSERS) | 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) | 57.8% | 105.1%* |
| Total Assets | $72.0B | $24.8B |
| Total Liabilities | $124.6B | $23.6B* |
| Unfunded Liability | $52.6B | $0* |
| Participants | 518,000 | 230,039 |
| 1-Year Investment Return | 5.1% | 5.7%* |
| Plan Type | public | multiemployer |
| PBGC Risk Level | high | low |
| Sponsor | State of Pennsylvania | IUOE Local 324 |
Operating Engineers Local 324 Pension Fund has a stronger Pension Health Score of 100/100 (A) compared to Pennsylvania Public School Employees Retirement System (PSERS) at 54/100 (C). Funding ratios differ by 47.3 percentage points (105.1% vs 57.8%). Operating Engineers Local 324 Pension Fund covers 230,039 participants.