One of my favorite issues of Money ran more than a decade before I was born.
It hit stands in 1977, with the world's grooviest cover image: a gorgeous, cross-legged blonde with perfectly styled curtain bangs. Bold, white lettering — reading "Fringe Benefits" — teases the big story inside.
The story itself, which extols the virtues of a well-rounded employee benefits package, is even more outdated than the "low tar" cigarette ads it's sandwiched between. Company perks, after all, looked very different during the Carter administration.
In 1977, the majority of retirement plans offered by large American companies were pensions, aka "defined benefit plans" dependent on an employee's tenure and salary — not market returns. There were more than twice as many participants in pensions in '77 than there were in "defined contribution plans" like 401(k)s,
according to research from the Department of Labor. For comparison,
only 15% of private-sector workers in the U.S. have access to a traditional pension today.
What's more, a standard plan paid 45% of a retired employee's salary at age 65 and was funded by a company trust fund — not decades of accrued employee contributions. Some retirees got even cushier packages: Whirlpool's pension agreement, for one, guaranteed 60% after 30 years' service. (Alas, that benefit
froze in 2006.)
Health insurance was a pretty sweet deal back then, too. In 1977, according to retro Money, the average deductible for an employee covered by a company's health plan was just $100. When it came to monthly premiums, most companies footed the entire bill.
The story, written with prescience by the late Suzanne Sexias, advised workers to get while the gettin's good: "Companies are not likely to be improving [benefits] very much in the next several years," she wrote.
Boy, was she right. In 2021, the average private employer paid
78% of its employees' health care premiums for individual coverage and just 66% of premiums for family coverage. Out-of-pocket expenses are also a lot more expensive for modern workers: Today, the
average health insurance deductible is just under $2,000 for individuals. For family coverage, it's close to $4,000.
Read the story
here.
— Kristen Bahler, editor
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