Changes in the Relative Provision of Public-Sector Pensions

A decline in pension coverage during the 1980s for males in the private sector is confirmed and is contrasted with the federal, state, and local sectors in which no such decline is found. As a consequence, the governmental advantage in the probability of coverage grew over the 1980s. This remains true even in the most appropriate testing methodology m which worker earnings are endogenous and in which otherwise constant characteristics are moved between years and sectors. Government wage differentials are estimated as a byproduct of this methodology and show a tendency toward comparability over the 1980s.