Aided by a slight increase in interest rates, which lowered plan liabilities, the funded status of very large pension plans sponsored by public companies edged up in May, according to a Milliman Inc. survey released Monday.
Defined benefit plans offered by U.S. employers with the 100 largest pension programs were an average of 77.5% funded as of May 31, up from 77% as of April 30.
“For the first time this year, we saw positive interest rate movement,” Zorast Wadia, a Milliman principal and consulting actuary in New York, said in a statement.
At the end of May, the plans had $1.384 trillion in assets and $1.785 trillion in liabilities, resulting in a funding deficit of about $401 billion, a decrease of about $11 billion compared with the end of April.
Aided by a small rise in interest rates, which lowered the value of plan liabilities, the funded status of pension plans sponsored by large employers rose slightly in May, Mercer L.L.C. said Friday.