54%
More likely to be more or much more satisfied with life than people with no pension (retired OMERS members).
Case Study | Financial Products & Retirement
$6.57 Billion in Total Economic and Social Benefit for OMERS Retirees
For 2020, CANCEA estimated $4.37 billion in retirement income plus $2.17 billion in monetized social benefit from higher life satisfaction, for approximately $6.57 billion in total benefit for OMERS retirees living in Ontario.
At a Glance
Client
OMERS
(Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System)
(Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System)
Reference year
2020
Services
Social value assessment; wellbeing valuation
Sector
Financial Products & Retirement
The Challenge
OMERS provides a secure retirement to more than half a million active, deferred, and retired municipal employees across Ontario, working for 1,000 employers from transit systems to children's aid societies. OMERS needed to show the value its pension creates beyond the monthly payment - for members, employers, and communities. The economic contribution had been studied, but the human value of a secure retirement had not.
The Approach
SVT surveyed a representative sample of the Ontario population and OMERS members, then measured how a secure pension affected each person's satisfaction with life. It compared OMERS members with similar people who had no pension coverage, showing what would likely have happened anyway, and translated the difference in life satisfaction into a dollar value, person by person. The analysis covered the 463,000 OMERS members living in Ontario.
The Results
In 2020, OMERS retirees living in Ontario received $4.37 billion in retirement income and an estimated $2.17 billion in monetized social benefit from higher life satisfaction, for approximately $6.57 billion in total benefit.
Source: CANCEA, Social Value Benefit: OMERS Defined Benefit Pension Plan: 2020 (published 2022).
47%
More likely across any pension - broad comparator base.
90%
Of members attributed their higher life satisfaction to being part of a defined benefit pension plan.
58% less likely
To depend on the federal Guaranteed Income Supplement.
45% less likely
To report low life satisfaction.
The gains held across income, age, gender, and region, driven mainly by financial security; members were also more likely to volunteer and donate, easing demand on public services.
OMERS used the evidence to broaden how it reports value - pairing financial performance with a measure of the wellbeing its pension creates - and to inform member communication and the wider policy conversation about pensions as social infrastructure.
Key Takeaway
This engagement demonstrates that the value of a secure pension can be measured person by person, not just in economic terms - producing evidence that a defined benefit pension lifts members' wellbeing and eases their reliance on public support.
Related
Who We Help: Pension Funds & Investors
How SVT quantifies pension fund social value member by member.
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How we measure social value person by person.
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