Department of Employee Trust Funds
July 6, 2009

Study Measures Economic Impact of WRS

The retirement benefits paid to Wisconsin’s public employee retirees support a significant amount of economic activity in the state, according to a national economic impact study by the National Institute on Retirement Security (NIRS).

Payments to retirees are overwhelmingly spent right here at home because more than 90% of Wisconsin Retirement System (WRS) retirees live in Wisconsin. This spending reverberates throughout the local and state economy, as one person’s spending becomes another person’s income, creating a multiplier effect.

In its report, Pensionomics: Measuring the Economic Impact of State and Local Pension Plans, the NIRS found that in Wisconsin, spending coming from pension payments to WRS retirees supported

• 33,324 jobs that paid $1.7 billion in wages and salaries;
• $4.5 billion in total economic output; and
• $732.6 million in federal, state, and local tax revenues

The study analyzed the economic impact of public pensions in all 50 states, using 2006 data. View Wisconsin’s Fact Sheet compiled by the NIRS.