The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) set about providing revenue in response to claims as soon as it was established in 1974 with the enactment of ERISA. The PBGC makes figures available on the parties and industry segments to which it makes payments, and it has updated that data through 2017.
Following is a look at selected data concerning PBGC single-employer program claims from the PBGC’s establishment through 2017.
Top 5 Single-Employer Program Fiscal Year Claims Totals
| Fiscal Year | Claims |
| 2005 | $11,248,040,048 |
| 2009 | $7,278,561,073 |
| 2003 | $6,474,348,737 |
| 2002 | $3,789,520,834 |
| 2004 | $3,285,117,733 |
Interestingly, since the Great Recession there has been only one fiscal year with single-employer program claims exceeding $1 billion: 2013. Every other year, beginning in 2011, has had total claims under $1 billion. And there was a sharp drop from 2016 to 2017, a drop of more than 50%:
| Year | Fiscal Year Claims Total | Change |
| 2016 | $944,330,784 | -- |
| 2017 | $391-096,322 | -$553,234,462 |
Following are the 10 largest claims made by an employer on the Single-Employer Program through 2017. Six of the firms listed are no longer in business, and one of them was subsumed into another firm.
Top 10 Firms Making Single-Employer Program Claims, 1975-2017
| Firm | Number of Plans | Fiscal Year(s) of Plan Termination | Claims | Vested Participants | Average Claim per Vested Participant | % of Total Claims |
| United Airlines | 4 | 2005 | $7,304,186,216 | 122,483 | $59,634 | 14.7 |
| Delphi | 6 | 2009 | $4,820,168,215 | 66,614 | $72,360 | 9.7 |
| Bethlehem Steel | 1 | 2003 | $3,702,771,655 | 92,174 | $40,172 | 7.5 |
| US Airways | 4 | 2003, 2005 | $2,708,976,605 | 60,585 | $44,714 | 5.5 |
| LTV Steel | 6 | 2002, 2003, 2004 | $2,134,985,884 | 83,782 | $25,483 | 4.3 |
| Delta Airlines | 1 | 2006 | $1,710,043,418 | 13,237 | $129,187 | 3.5 |
| National Steel | 7 | 2003 | $1,319,009,116 | 35,152 | $37,523 | 2.7 |
| Pan American Air | 3 | 1991, 1992 | $841,082,434 | 53,624 | $15,685 | 1.7 |
| Trans World Airlines | 2 | 2001 | $668,377,105 | 32,197 | $20,759 | 1.3 |
| Wierton Steel | 1 | 2004 | $640,480,970 | 65,189 | $65,189 | 1.3 |
By Funded Ratio
As one may expect, firms whose plans have a high funded ratio made smaller claims on the Single-Employer Program. The highest claims were by plans with 10,000 or more participants and funded ratios of 25%-74%.
PBGC Single-Employer Program Claims by Funded Ratio and Plan Size, 1975-2017
(in Millions of Dollars, Rounded)
| Number of Participants | Funded Ratio <25% |
Funded Ratio 25%-49% | Funded Ratio 50%-74% | Funded Ratio >75% | Total Claims | % of Total |
| <25 | $153.5 | $78.3 | $39.6 | $4.7 | $226.1 | 0.6 |
| 25-99 | $334 | $322.1 | $223.4 | $22.2 | $901.6 | 1.8 |
| 100-999 | $881 | $2,100.6 | $2,451.4 | $193.7 | $5,626.8 | 11.4 |
| 1,000-4,999 | $1,572.3 | $3,283.6 | $3,704.2 | $171,189.9 | $8,731.3 | 17.6 |
| 5,000-9,999 | $826.5 | $3,015 | $2,461.9 | $129.2 | $6,432.6 | 13.0 |
| 10,000 < | $779.5 | $12,726.2 | $13,940.5 | $114.6 | $27,560.8 | 55.6 |
By Industry Segment
The industry that made the highest amount in Single-Employer Program claims since the establishment of the PBGC through 2017 is the manufacturing sector. Following are data from nine sectors.
| Industry Sector | Claims |
| Manufacturing | $27,920,133,673 |
| Transportation and Public Utilities | $14,452,041,324 |
| Service | $2,949,497,587 |
| Finance, Insurance and Real Estate | $1,094,623,357 |
| Retail | $1,083,270,626 |
| Agriculture, mining and construction | $771,674,437 |
| Wholesale Trade | $583,043,078 |
| Information | $488,169,626 |
| Non-profit | $186,716,041 |
Current and prior years’ collection of Data Tables are available on the PBGC’s website at: http://www.pbgc.gov/prac/data-books.html
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