Pension plans: The state of the art

The effect of termination of employment on pension benefits has become a matter of grave concern to engineers and scientists in the United States, particularly to those in the professions served by IEEE. In many cases during the postwar years, the decision to transfer from one employer to another has been a voluntary act of the professional worker and he could measure the cost of losing future pension benefits against the advantages of taking a new job. But within the last two years, a major change has occurred in the space and defense industries and their suppliers, which are so largely dependent upon government support of scientific and engineering work. In addition to discussing current pension practices in the United States, this report includes a review of activities by societies in this field, and the limitations imposed by legal and economic forces.