Today, the PBGC protects the pensions of 44.1 million American workers and retirees in just 30,330 private single-employer and multiemployer defined benefit pension plans.

The trend is clear:

• The number of Fortune 100 companies offering pensions in 2005 has dropped to 37, down from nearly 90 in 1985. The number of companies offering only 401(k) plans rose from 10 to 36 in the same time period.

 

• Total underfunding among the 1,108 weakest defined benefit pension plans in the country reached $353.7 billion at the end of 2004, the PBGC announced last year.

   

• In 1980, 80 percent of American workers participated in defined benefit pensions plans. The PBGC reports that figure is now half that level.