In an era defined by evolving workplace dynamics and a heightened focus on employee well-being, the 2023 Workplace Wellness Survey offers a comprehensive look into the well-being and retirement preparedness of employees in the United States. Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) conducted this survey on financial well-being, employment-based health insurance, and retirement benefits in the workplace.

Congress raised the debt limit this year to prevent a government default. They are working to agree on next year's budget by Sept. 30.

Over the past decade, as businesses have undertaken digital transformation initiatives to improve efficiencies and outcomes, cyberattacks have continued to increase in both frequency and complexity. These cyberattacks are increasingly committed by well-funded criminal and state-sanctioned groups seeking to exploit vulnerabilities and disrupt operations for financial gain or to steal intellectual property and other sensitive data for competitive gains or national intelligence purposes. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses of all sizes have responded to new, unexpected customer and employee needs by accelerating their investments in digital technologies. These investments have not only driven positive business outcomes but have also created new areas of vulnerability for companies across their entire technology supply chain and infrastructure. The increase in the number of endpoints resulting from the exponential growth of mobile computing and Internet of Things (IoT) devices, as well as the larger technology infrastructure surface areas supporting cloud-computing needs, has provided cyber attackers with more areas to potentially exploit and gain unauthorized access. These cyberattacks contribute to a wide variety of adverse outcomes—lost revenue from network downtime, increased costs from ransom payments, fines and/or mitigation spending, lost data integrity, impact to the business from increased reputational risk and, in certain cases, national security risks. As businesses continue to invest in digital transformation to accelerate growth initiatives, the increased threat from cyber criminals will also require larger and more targeted investments in next-generation cybersecurity defense technology to protect digital assets and networks while minimizing the operational and financial costs of a cyberattack.

State and local government public pensions weren't among Gov. Greg Abbot's State of the State address on Feb. 16; however, he did discuss the importance of the public education system in Texas, touted previous increases to teacher pay, and said the current legislative session could do even more for the educational system and teachers. 

People 65 and older experienced an increase in poverty in 2021, according to the official poverty measure from the U.S. Census Bureau. The Bureau recently highlighted data from its Poverty in the United States: 2021 report originally released in September 2022 as the nation prepares to observe Poverty Awareness Month in the United States this January 2023.

Political and diplomatic turmoil in Europe have, perhaps inevitably, led to misconceptions about the economic landscape and the continent’s financial services industry. In reality, differences with the US market are far narrower than expected and a significant opportunity exists for an experienced control investor.

From their peak earlier this year, the spot trucking rates have been in decline, marking a shift versus prior years. Given how impactful the inflation in shipping costs had been across the broader economy from 2020 to 2022, the recent change in trend has widespread implications for many companies.

In striving to seek and secure the best investments and services for their membership, public retirement system administrators and staff often look for demographic and economic data to highlight in various reports. 

Coming off a strong year for corporate earnings and economic growth in 2021, the global economy has been hit with myriad headwinds in 2022. The unfathomable sequence of events occurring in Ukraine is certainly top of mind. Beyond the horrific human tragedy, there has been a significant ripple effect on global commodity prices. This has added to already mounting inflationary pressures from ongoing supply chain problems and has led central banks around the world to expedite their rate hike plans in an attempt to get inflation under control. 

Napier Park Global is a Silver Sponsor of TEXPERS' 2022 Summer Educational Forum Aug. 21-23 in El Paso, Texas, and is sending Amit Sanghani, managing director and product specialist for the firm's global credit and real asset strategies.

William Blair Investment Management is a Silver Sponsor of TEXPERS' 2022 Summer Educational Forum Aug. 21-23 in El Paso, Texas, and is sending hard currency portfolio manager Jared Lou from the firm's emerging markets debt team to present.

In 2018, public pension benefit dollars represented between 0.4% and 1.1% on average of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for each county type in Texas. New research indicates that public pension plans have a particularly positive economic impact on small towns and rural communities.

The first glimpses of global economic growth, inflation trends, and monetary policy meetings have kept financial and investment professionals busy this week. Some interesting retirement data is also set to be released soon. Online presentations offered by thought leaders from various firms in the financial, investment, banking, and research industries can provide your retirement funds insights to manage the pensions of your annuitants.Here are four webinars offering fresh insights into the latest economic market conditions and retirement research.

Below is a list of upcoming or recently held interim Texas legislative hearings TEXPERS' System Members and others interested in managing public employee pensions in the state might be interested in following. The topics either directly or indirectly impact pension management or governance issues. 

With headline inflation at multi-decade highs investors are rightly concerned and it bears an in-depth look. Some of the drivers of price rises have persisted longer than the Fed expected. But looking beyond the headlines at some of those drivers of the last twelve months could be useful.

TEXPERS invited two experts with Putnam Investments, an Associate member of the association, to discuss inflation expectations. Shep Perkins, CFA, is Chief Investment Officer of Equities at Putnam and Donald E. Perks is a Quantitative Analyst with the firm.