North Carolina’s pension debt may be 2.5 times more than the state’s acknowledged debt. Using an options-pricing method, Andrew Biggs of AEI also concluded that North Carolina has unfunded pension obligations with a market value of $49 billion, a funding ratio for teachers and state employees of just 60%, and a 45% probability of having enough assets to pay the accrued liabilities. For local governments, the funding ratio is 58% and the probability of having adequate assets is 39%. Biggs has a shorter commentary on his paper and the Pew Center on the States report here.
Still better than average, but a potentially bigger concern.
