The number of active registered pension plan (RPP) members has increased by 12% to 6.2 million over a 10-year period, according to the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI).
Despite this, the number of active RPP members as a percentage of the labour force stood at 33% in both 2002 and 2012.
The 6.2 million active RPP members were evenly split between males and females in 2012. The proportion of female members increased to 50% in 2012 from 46% in 2002, while the proportion of male members decreased to 50% from 54% over the same period.
Female members increased to 3.1 million from 2.6 million, while male members increased slightly to 3.1 million from three million over the last decade. Only 2.2 million active female members were covered in 1992.
The proportion of employees covered by an RPP declined to about 38% in 2012 from about 40% in 2002. Although the number of active RPP members has increased, the number of employees has grown at a faster pace, which explains the decline in the proportion of employees with a RPP.
RPP coverage in the public sector stood at 86% in both 2002 and 2012, while the number of active RPP members in the public sector increased to 3.2 million from 2.6 million. In the private sector, RPP coverage decreased to 24% in 2012 from 27% in 2002, while the number of active RPP members in the private sector remained constant at around three million.
In addition to the decline in employee RPP coverage, there has been a shift from DB to DC and other plans. Overall, the proportion of active RPP members in DB plans has declined to 72% from 82% between 2002 and 2012.
While the reduction in DB coverage has been significant in the private sector (48% in 2012 compared to 73% in 2002), it has not occurred in the public sector (94% in 2012 compared to 93% in 2002).
In addition to the 6.2 million active RPP members in 2012, approximately 1.5 million individuals participated in an employer-sponsored group RRSP and/or a deferred profit sharing plan (DPSP). This group of 1.5 million individuals excludes active RPP members who are also participating in an employer-sponsored group RRSP/DPSP, given that they are already included in the 6.2 million.
When adding the individuals participating in an employer-sponsored group RRSP/DPSP to the number of active RPP members, the 2012 coverage rates for employer-sponsored tax-assisted plans increase to 40% of the labour force from 33%, and to 48% of employees from 38%. Assuming that all those individuals are in the private sector, the theoretical 2012 coverage rate for employees in the private sector increases to 36% from 24%, says OSFI.
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