Multiemployer Plans: Their Current Circumstances in Historical Context

This document is about the financial status and challenges facing multiemployer pension plans in the private sector. It provides an overview of how these plans have evolved over the past few decades, assessing their current financial status and detailing why some plans are now facing near-term insolvency. The report also examines the size of the funding shortfall, options for addressing the underfunding, and who should bear the burden of the costs. Additionally, it identifies characteristics of plans that have ended up in "critical-and-declining" status and uses this information to highlight other plans that may be at risk of a similar fate.