The State Worker: California state employee retirements fall for fifth month in a row

The State Worker

Chronicling civil-service life for California state workers

October 7, 2011

California state employee retirements fall for fifth month in a row

Fewer state workers are taking their first pension check this year than last, the latest CalPERS service retirement data show, although the number of new retirees remains well above 2009 levels.

As the graph above illustrates, 817 employees filed papers in September down nearly 15 percent from the 957 who applied in during the same month last year. The number of state workers who applied for retirement has fallen five months in a row when compared with the same period in 2010.

Some 8,454 state workers have entered retirement in 2011, off more than 11 percent from the 9,533 who retired during the first nine months of 2010.

Still, the number of employees retiring from state service is up 18 percent compared with two years ago when 7,143 state workers took their first pension checks from January to September. A total of 9,400 state workers retired in 2009.

Across all of CalPERS, 24,506 state and local employees have retired this year, down 7 percent from the first three quarters of last year.

The CalPERS data reflects the number of service retirement applications submitted from mid-month to mid-month, so the latest figures include the second half of August and the first half of September. Click here to download the data tables.

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