Employer pension plans (trusteed pension funds)

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Third quarter 2010  (Previous release)

The value of retirement savings of Canadian workers who have employer-sponsored pension funds amounted to $997.8 billion at the end of the third quarter, up 6.8% from the previous quarter. This level exceeds the previous high of $970.8 billion reached in the second quarter of 2008.

The market value of pension fund investments in bonds rose 4.1% to $366.2 billion in the third quarter. The value of Canadian bonds increased 5.8%, while the value of foreign bonds declined 14.2%. The proportion of pension fund assets held in bonds edged down to 36.7%.

The market value of stocks increased 10.0% to $333.0 billion by the end of September, following a second-quarter decline of 5.3%. The proportion of pension fund assets in stocks rose to 33.4%.

Pension fund revenues fell 9.1% in the third quarter. Despite a 21.2% increase in profits from the sale of securities, lower pension contributions and investment income resulted in revenues falling to $22.0 billion at the end of the third quarter.

In addition, expenditures declined 22.1% in the third quarter to $13.4 billion, principally the result of reduced losses on the sale of securities. Net income increased 23.1% to $8.5 billion.

Just over 6.0 million Canadian workers are members of employer pension plans. Of this group, 4.9 million workers are members of trusteed plans. The remaining 1.1 million members with employer pension plans are in plans managed principally by insurance company contracts. Data in this release refer only to trusteed plans and their pension funds.

Note: Data for quarterly estimates of trusteed pension funds are revised once each year, with the release of third quarter data. With today's release, previous estimates back to the first quarter of 2009 have been revised. These revisions are minor in nature and have no significant impact on previous estimates.

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

Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 2607.

For further information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Statistics Canada's National Contact Centre (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; infostats@statcan.gc.ca), Client Services Division.