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A study documented the continued backloading of pension benefits and the extent of retirement incentives by examining pension accrual in 1,183 U.S. defined benefit pension plans in 1979 and in one large Fortvae 500 firm in 1984. Among the findings on the defined benefit pension plans were the following: many plans exhibit significant backloading; most plans generate substantial retirement incentives, often at the plan's age of early retirement; the extent of backloading and retirement incentives differs widely across firms; and early and normal retirement at age 55 is quite common among firms in the transportation Industry. The analysis of the retirement response to the Fortune 500 company's pension plan yielded the following findings: most of the benefits accrued in the year the worker reached age 55, the plan's age of early retirement; the plan made pension accrual significantly lower after age 55, thus providing a very substantial incentive to retire at age 55 or shortl