Benefits April 21, 2010

Orange County Pension Hit by Data Glitch

April 21, 2010 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – A data-collection glitch at the Orange County Employees Retirement System (OCERS) has resulted in the program’s unfunded liability being underestimated by $228 million.
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An Orange County (CA) Register news report said the county will have to increase its pension contributions in the future to make up the extra shortfall.

The newspaper said OCERS CEO Steve Delaney explained that data provided to the system’s actuary to use in determining the program’s ongoing costs only included workers’ base pay and not premium compensation including hazardous duty pay for police officers and firefighters as well as special payments to other workers.

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“An agency such as the Orange County Sheriff’s Department is more likely to find its employees at times in unusual and stressful situations that will require premium payments,” Delaney said.  “An agency like that would be more heavily impacted by finding that those premium payments had not been correctly forecast into the agency’s pension contribution rates.”

Since members of the deputy sheriff’s union don’t contribute toward their retirements, for example, the county will likely need to pick up the difference in coming years, the newspaper said.

Benefits April 21, 2010

Networking Still Helps Some on Job Hunt

April 21, 2010 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – Some 46% of workers over 50 years old participating in a recent study said networking continues to be important for those job seekers in that age bracket.
Reported by

A news release from the IMPACT Group, a career management firm, said that was one result of its latest Candidate Tracking Statistics, which polled more than 700 of the firm’s job candidates who got a job between July 2009 and January 2010. 

According to the announcement, the study found that:

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  • Referrals from within an organization (18%) and outside the organization (9%) are the most successful ways to land a job opportunity.
  • Posting an online resume gives a candidate a scant 8% chance of success.
  • Social networks (e.g. LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, etc.) can be important in identifying referral opportunities.
  • For those earning more $100K, networking is the most successful strategy, with 50% of candidates identifying the opportunity in this way.
  • There has been a downward trend in the overall effectiveness of recruiters since 2005.
  • Men are more likely to learn about opportunities through networking, while women are more successful with published openings.

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