Illinois Pension Shortfall Shrinks for First Time Since 2017 (1)

Illinois’s pension shortfall declined for the first time in four years, falling 10% from a record in 2020, after a banner year for stock market returns.

The state’s total unfunded pension liability fell to $130 billion based on the market value of assets on June 30 from $144.2 billion a year earlier, the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability said in a report emailed Wednesday. Pensions across the state’s five retirement systems saw “significant improvement” in fiscal 2021 after debt had ballooned for years from “actuarially insufficient state contributions,” according to the report.

Even with recent improvements, unfunded liabilities are ...