1. Assets of Public and Private Pension and Retirement Funds, December 31, 1954..... 24 2. Growth of Non-Insured Private Pension Funds, 25 3. Corporate Pension Funds, Distribution of Assets, 1951-1954.... 4. Percentage Distribution of Assets, by Size of Fund, 1954.... 5. Distributions of Assets, by Industry, 1951-1954.. 29 6. Distribution of Total Assets, by Industry, 1954.. 30 Concentration of Assets, 1954.. Receipts and Expenditures, 1951-1954.......... 31 32 285 9. Receipts and Expenditures, by Industry, 1954 10. Employees Contribution, Distribution by Industry, 1951-1954... 11. Benefit Payments, Distribution by Industry, 12. Holdings of Corporate Securities, by Class of Investor, 1954...... 13. Purchases of Corporate Securities, by Class of Investor, 1951-1954..... Transactions in Common Stock, by Industry, Page Number 33 34 35 366 37 14. 39 15. Saving of Individuals in the United States, 1951-1954.. 40 SURVEY OF CORPORATE PENSION FUNDS History Although the history of pension plans in this country is a fairly long one, dating back into the latter part of the 19th Century, as late as the middle 1930's less than 15 percent of employees had some form of retirement coverage. Today it is estimated that upwards of 90 percent of workers have old age protection either under public or private retirement plans. The number covered by private pension plans is estimated at 12 million persons, or about one-quarter of all business employees. A few pension plans were in existence in the United States more than fifty years ago. The earliest was that of the American Express Agency, which initiated a pension plan in 1875. Other well-known companies with early pension plans were the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, the Consolidated Gas Company of New York, and Standard Oil Company of New Jersey. By 1905, there were 12 railroad pension plans in the United States, covering 35 percent of railroad workers; by 1911, there were 11 plans of public utility companies, and also a number of plans of manufacturing companies and banks. The largest pension fund in existence today, that of American Telephone and Telegraph Company and subsidiaries, was begun in 1913. Up through the 1920's, the railroad, utility, iron and steel and oil industries accounted for most of the pension plans in operation. However, there was some broadening out into other fields. In 1920 the Civil Service retirement system was established, and legislation was first introduced in Congress in 1924, regarding pension plans of Federal Reserve Bank employees. Interest in providing old age pensions by this time had spread to religious, educational, and other non-profit groups, as well. It was also during the 1920 decade that insurance companies actively began to sell group annuities. The chief impetus to pension fund growth, however, was the establishment of Old Age and Survivors Insurance in the middle thirties; at about that time railroad pensioners also came under the Railroad Retirement System of the Government. During this period a large increase occurred in the number of insured plans, supplementary to benefits under OASI. Since 1937, a remarkable growth has taken place in private pension plans, and there also has been a large expansion in the number of persons covered by Federal and state and local retirement plans. The growth in private pension plans in the last twenty years has been due to a number of factors, aside from the development of social responsibility among employers and the general belief that increased |