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WASHINGTON, Jan. 6, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — A new report finds that economic gains attributable to private and public sector defined benefit (DB) pensions in the U.S. are substantial. Retiree spending of pension benefits in 2018 generated $1.3 trillion in total economic output, supporting nearly seven million jobs across the nation. Pension spending also added nearly $192 billion to government coffers at the federal, state and local levels.  

Pensionomics 2021: Measuring the Economic Impact of Defined Benefit Pension Expenditures, released today by the National Institute on Retirement Security (NIRS), calculates the national economic impacts of U.S pension plans, as well as the impact of state and local plans on a state-by-state basis.

The full report is available here. Register for the webinar here.

A map with downloadable state fact sheets regarding the economic impact of  state and local pension plans is available here.

«This study comes as the U.S. economy is under severe pressure – as manufacturing and retail sales have dropped, unemployment applications remain high, small business closures are accelerating, and corporations are warning of more layoffs and filing for bankruptcy. Especially at this moment, retirees’ spending of their pension income is critical for sustaining and stabilizing consumer spending, which supports millions of jobs across the nation,» said Dan Doonan, NIRS executive director and report co-author.

Retired Americans with a pension receive a stable income every month—even during a recession, which means they can continue spending at the same level as they did pre-recession. The same cannot be said for retirees relying heavily on savings for retirement income. These retirees may be fearful to spend their 401(k) savings during an economic downturn, a time when  U.S. businesses are already struggling. Thus, pensions can serve as economic stabilizers, similar to Social Security and unemployment insurance. 

«Given the economic stress facing state and local governments, it’s all the more important to understand the tax revenue generated from pension spending.  This tax revenue comes from two major sources: taxes paid by beneficiaries directly on their pension benefits and taxes from expenditures in the local economy, like sales tax on retail purchases. This is a stable source of revenue for governments, which will be increasingly important this year,» Doonan explained.

Pension spending supports jobs and the local economy where retirees reside and spend their benefits. For example, when a retired nurse receives a pension benefit payment, s/he spends the pension check on goods and services in the local community. S/he purchases food, clothing, and medicine at local stores, and may even make larger purchases like a car or a computer. These purchases, combined with those of other retirees with pensions, create a steady economic ripple effect.

This study finds that in 2018:

1.    $578.7 billion in pension benefits were paid to 23.8 million retired Americans, including:

• $308.7 billion paid to some 11.0 million retired employees of state and local government and their beneficiaries (typically surviving spouses);
• $105.9 billion paid to some 2.6 million federal government beneficiaries;
• $164.1 billion paid to some 10.1 million private sector beneficiaries, including:
• $44.2 billion paid out to 3.8 million beneficiaries of multi-employer pension plans, and
• $119.9 billion paid out to 6.3 million beneficiaries of single-employer pension plans.

2.    Expenditures made out of those payments collectively supported:

• 6.9 million American jobs that paid nearly $394.2 billion in labor income;
• $1.3 trillion in total economic output nationwide;
• $703.9 billion in value added (GDP); and
• $191.9 billion in federal, state, and local tax revenue.

3.    Pension expenditures have large multiplier effects:

• Each dollar paid out in pension benefits supported $2.19 in total economic output nationally.
• Each taxpayer dollar contributed to state and local pensions supported $8.80 in total output nationally. This represents the leverage afforded by robust long-term investment returns and shared funding responsibility by employers and employees.

The largest employment impacts occurred in the real estate, food services, healthcare, and retail trade sectors.

Pension expenditures are especially vital for small and rural communities where other steady sources of income may not be readily found if the local economy lacks diversity. Recent research found that public pension benefit dollars represented between one and three percent of gross domestic product (GDP) on average among the 1,401 counties in 19 states studied in 2018.

The purpose of the Pensionomics 2021 study is to quantify the economic impact of pension payments in the U.S. and in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Using the IMPLAN model, the analysis estimates the employment, output, value added, and tax impacts of pension benefit expenditures at the national and state levels. Because of methodological refinements explained in the Technical Appendix, the state level results are not directly comparable to those in previous versions of this study.

The National Institute on Retirement Security is a non-profit, non-partisan organization established to contribute to informed policymaking by fostering a deep understanding of the value of retirement security to employees, employers and the economy as a whole. Located in Washington, D.C., NIRS membership includes financial services firms, employee benefit plans, trade associations, and other retirement service providers. More information is available at www.nirsonline.org. Follow NIRS on Twitter @NIRSonline.

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SOURCE National Institute on Retirement Security

RICHMOND, Va., Jan. 6, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Dominion Energy is awarding $500,000 in scholarships in 2021 to assist African American and other underrepresented minority students who reside in the company’s service area. The scholarships will be the first made under the Dominion Energy Educational Equity Scholarship Program, a six-year, $10 million initiative to provide assistance with higher education expenses.

«As we witness our country’s evolving conversation on racial equity and social justice, we want to do our part to help historically underserved students,» said Robert M. Blue, Dominion Energy’s president and chief executive officer. «We know that education can serve as a springboard for social and economic mobility.»

«We have partnered with historically black colleges and universities for nearly 40 years, offering volunteer and financial support,» said Thomas F. Farrell, II, Dominion Energy’s executive chairman. «This scholarship program is another way for us to support the students who will one day lead our nation.»

The scholarship application period is open until Jan. 25, 2021 at 3:00 p.m. Central Standard Time.

To be eligible, students must:

• self-identify as Black or African American; Hispanic or Latino; American Indian or Alaska Native; Asian; or Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander with higher education expenses; and
• be high school seniors or graduates, or current college undergraduates residing in Connecticut, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Idaho, Wyoming or Utah, with plans to enroll full time at an accredited two- or four-year college, university or vocational-technical school for the entire upcoming academic year.

In all, 60 scholarships totaling $500,000 will be awarded in 2021. Of those, 20 scholarships of $5,000 each will be made available for students enrolled in two-year schools, while 40 scholarships of $10,000 each will be awarded to students enrolled in four-year schools. Scholarship recipients will be able to renew scholarships as they progress in school, provided they meet certain criteria, such as GPA requirements and residence in an eligible state. The program is administered by Scholarship America, a nonprofit that specializes in management of scholarship and tuition assistance programs. Scholarship America will support Dominion Energy in the selection of finalists.      

Students can learn more and apply at DominionEnergy.com/EquityScholarships.

The company also has committed $25 million to 11 historically black colleges and universities in Virginia, Ohio, North Carolina and South Carolina. The six-year «HBCU Promise» program will support endowments, capital projects, operating expenses and educational programs in clean energy.

About Dominion Energy
More than 7 million customers in 16 states energize their homes and businesses with electricity or natural gas from Dominion Energy (NYSE: D), headquartered in Richmond, Va. The company is committed to sustainable, reliable, affordable and safe energy and to achieving net zero carbon dioxide and methane emissions from its power generation and gas infrastructure operations by 2050. Please visit DominionEnergy.com to learn more.

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SOURCE Dominion Energy

AUSTIN, Texas, Jan. 6, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Enverus, the leading energy SaaS and data analytics company, is releasing its summary of Q4 and Full Year 2020 U.S. upstream M&A. After an anemic start, 2020 upstream M&A accelerated dramatically in the second half of the year. Activity crested in Q4 with $27 billion, the third most active quarter by value since oil prices lost their footing in late 2014.

«As anticipated, additional merger activity during Q4 centered on E&Ps with high quality lands and reasonable debt loads,» said Enverus M&A Analyst Andrew Dittmar.

Consistent with earlier deals in 2020, all the big Q4 public company corporate deals were all-equity, low-premium combinations. «Wall Street appears supportive of E&P deals, but with very specific expectations on deal structure and the quality of the merger target,» added Dittmar.

While big corporate deals lifted M&A value in 2020, deal flow as measured by the number of announced deals fell to historic lows. There were only 140 announced deals with a reported value in 2020, the lowest annual total since at least 2006.

«There was very little appetite for buying upstream assets in 2020,» said Dittmar. «In particular, companies were unwilling to invest substantially in buying undeveloped land, a staple of past upstream deal markets.»

In 2021, upstream M&A is likely to normalize relative to the boom-and-bust cycle of large corporate deals or nothing during 2020. There is a substantial backlog of non-core asset divestments for companies to pursue.

Corporate consolidation is likely to continue as companies look for synergies to drive down their cost structures. However, there may be fewer very large corporate deals because so many of those were accomplished during the last year, winnowing the list of possible participants.

View Enverus’ full announcement including extended commentary and Top Five Deal Table.

About Enverus

Through its SaaS platform, Enverus is the leading data, software and insights company providing innovative technologies and predictive/prescriptive analytics, empowering customers to navigate the future. Enverus’ solutions deliver value to more than 6,000 customers in 50 countries across the upstream, midstream and downstream sectors, enabling the industry to be more collaborative, efficient and competitive. Enverus is a portfolio company of Genstar Capital. Creating the future of energy together. Learn more at www.enverus.com.

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SOURCE Enverus