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Employer pension plans (trusteed pension funds)
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The market value of assets held in employer-sponsored trusteed pension funds amounted to $958.9 billion at the end of the second quarter of 2008, up 0.2% from the first quarter. These results do not reflect the impact of the volatility in the financial markets beyond the second quarter.
It was the fourth consecutive quarter in which the value of retirement savings of 4.6 million Canadian workers had shown little growth prior to the current economic downturn.
The second-quarter increase reflects principally gains in the value of bonds, mortgages and real estate assets.
The market value of stocks, which comprised 36.3% of pension fund assets, declined for the fourth quarter in a row. Bonds and bond funds accounted for 34.8%, real estate 7.5%, short-term investments 3.0%, and mortgages 1.6%. Remaining assets, which include foreign funds, accounted for 16.8%.
Proportionally, the total value of foreign investments decreased to 29.7% of total pension fund assets, from $287.3 billion at the end of the first quarter of 2008 to $284.2 billion at the end of June. The share of Canadian assets rose to 70.3% of total pension fund assets from $667.2 billion in the first quarter to $672.5 billion in the second.
Pension revenues rose 21.3% to $22.8 billion, due to a rise in investment income and profits from the sale of securities in the second quarter.
Expenditures in the second quarter declined 22.5% to $15.4 billion, principally due to reduced losses on the sale of securities, resulting in a positive cash flow of $7.5 billion, compared with a $1.0 billion loss at the end of the first quarter.
Pension benefits paid to retirees in the second quarter amounted to $9.1 billion. For a fourth consecutive quarter, benefits paid to retirees exceeded pension contributions made by employers and employees.
Of the 5.8 million Canadian workers belonging to employer pension plans, 4.6 million are members of trusteed plans. The remaining 1.2 million workers with employer pension plans are covered principally by insurance company contracts. Data in this release refer only to the trusteed plans.
Available on CANSIM: tables 280-0002 to 280-0004.
Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 2607.
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods, or data quality of this release, contact Client Services (613-951-7355: toll-free 1-888-297-7355; fax: 613 951-3012; income@statcan.gc.ca), Income Statistics Division.
Table 1
Trusteed pension funds: Revenue and expenditures
Table 2
Trusteed pension funds, market value of assets by type
