“The Annual Survey of Public Pensions provides a comprehensive look at the financial activity of the nation’s state and locally administered defined benefit pension systems, including cash and investment holdings, receipts, payments, pension obligations and membership information. Statistics are available at the national level and for individual states. Total contributions were $180.2 billion in 2015, increasing 7.9 percent from $167.0 billion in 2014. Government contributions accounted for the bulk of them ($131.7 billion in 2015, increasing 8.3 percent from $121.5 billion in 2014), with employee contributions at $48.5 billion in 2015, climbing 6.5 percent from $45.5 billion in 2014. The other component of total revenue ─ earnings on investments ─ declined 68.4 percent, from $534.4 billion in 2014 to $168.7 billion in 2015. Earnings on investments include both realized and unrealized gains, and therefore reflect market fluctuations. The total number of beneficiaries increased 4.3 percent to 10.0 million people in 2015 (from 9,559,956 people in 2014 to 9,971,726 in 2015). The payments they received rose 5.1 percent from $272.5 billion in 2014 to $286.5 billion in 2015. Meanwhile, total assets increased 3.0 percent, from $3.7 trillion in 2014 to $3.8 trillion in 2015.”