Membership in registered pension plans (RPPs) rose in 2012 as more employees were enrolled in DC or hybrid plans, according to Statistics Canada.
Overall, membership increased 1.2% to 6,185,000.
More than 4,422,800 employees were in DB plans, down 1.2% from 2011. They accounted for 71.5% of employees with an RPP, compared with more than 84% a decade earlier.
Membership in DC plans, the other most frequent type, increased 2.7% or 27,000 to 1,030,300. These plans accounted for 16.7% of all RPP membership. Nearly 86% of members in DC plans work in the private sector.
Other plans, such as hybrids or composites, continued their upward trend. In 2012, more than 731,800 employees belonged to these plans, up 15.5% from 2011.
Public sector pension plan membership rose 0.6% to 3,179,300, while the number of members in private sector plans increased 1.7% to 3,005,700. The public sector accounted for 51.4% of total membership in RPPs.
In 2012, for the first time, the participation of women in RPPs equalled that of men. Female membership increased 1.3% to 3,092,500. Women represented 62.8% of membership in the public sector plans in 2012 and 36.5% in the private sector.
The pension coverage rate, the proportion of all employees covered by an RPP, was 38.4% in 2012, virtually unchanged from the previous year.
In 2012, total employer and employee contributions to RPPs reached a record $62.1 billion. Employer contributions for unfunded liabilities accounted for $12.9 billion of the total in 2012, up from $11.7 billion in 2011. When payments for unfunded liabilities are excluded, employers contributed 62% of the total, while employee contributions accounted for the remaining 38%.
The market value of assets in RPPs totalled $1.4 trillion in 2012, up 8.8% from the previous year.
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