The Cost of Federal Pensions Is Exploding

Federal Times has an alarming report on the state of the federal pension system. Though it's gone largely unnoticed, like nearly every other government-funded pension plan in the country, the unfunded liabilities of federal pensions have increased dramatically over the last couple of years:

The unfunded liability of the federal government’s pension systems exploded in fiscal 2011 to $761.5 billion dollars — an increase of $139 billion from its fiscal 2010 deficit.

The Civil Service Retirement System once again accounted for the bulk of that unfunded liability. Its deficit grew from $634.5 billion in 2010 to $741.4 billion in 2011, according to the Office of Personnel Management’s Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund annual report for fiscal 2012. OPM released the report at Federal Times’ request.

The Federal Employees Retirement System slipped back into the red. FERS held a projected $12.2 billion surplus at the end of fiscal 2010 — its first in four years. But one year later, FERS reported a $20.1 billion unfunded liability.