ERISA at 50: BLS tracks the evolution of retirement benefits

While the Bureau of Labor Statistics has studied employee benefits, including retirement plans, for at least 100 of its 140-year history, more detailed information has been available during the last half century, coincident with the passage of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. This article follows the many changes to Bureau of Labor Statistics retirement income studies and shows the challenges of providing statistics on such a varied and frequently evolving topic. The 20th century was the dawn and expansion of retirement security for American workers, with the introduction of private pension plans, the enactment of Social Security, court rulings allowing collective bargaining of employee benefits, and the enactment of several federal laws governing pension plans. The passage of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) in 1974 was among one of the most impactful events; ERISA established guardrails for employer-provided retirement benefits.