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Thursday, June 24, 2004

Employer pension plans (trusteed pension funds)

Fourth quarter 2003

Trusteed pension funds closed out the fourth quarter of 2003 with assets valued at a record high $624.2 billion.

Following the previous peak of $614.4 billion in the third quarter of 2000, pension funds had reported declining assets in most three-month periods until the first quarter of 2003.

The fourth-quarter increase last year was the third consecutive quarterly gain in asset value, and reflected growth in stock prices. At the outset of the fourth quarter, the Standard & Poor's/Toronto Stock Exchange Composite Index (S&P/TSX) measured 7,421. By the end of the quarter, it had grown 10.8% to 8,221.

Pension funds are heavily invested in stocks. In the fourth quarter of 2003, stocks accounted for 39.9% of pension fund assets, compared with a high of 45.5% in the third quarter of 1997.

Pension funds had revenues of $23.5 billion and expenditures of $9.0 billion between October and December last year, for a cash flow of $14.5 billion. This was the largest cash flow in two years and the third positive quarterly flow in a row.

Profits from buying and selling stocks hit $6.8 billion, well above the $2.0 billion reported in the third quarter of 2003.

Employer contributions, which have been on the rise since early 2002, reached a record high of $6.8 billion in the fourth quarter. The annual total for 2003 was $18.2 billion, up substantially from $12.6 billion in 2002.

About 5.5 million Canadian workers belong to employer pension plans. Of these, about 4.5 million are members of trusteed plans.

The remaining 1 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.

Available on CANSIM: tables 280-0002 to 280-0004.

Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 2607.

For more information about the current survey results and related products and services, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Client Services (1-888-297-7355; 613-951-7355; fax: 613-951-3012; income@statcan.gc.ca), Income Statistics Division.



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Date Modified: 2004-06-24 Important Notices