Pension funds, so badly hit in the downturn, have shown their fifth consecutive monthly improvement, according to Hewitt Associates, a global human resources services company.

IRISH pension funds finally saw an upturn in fortunes in the second quarter of the year, by showing combined returns of 11.4% — between €5 billion and €6bn — according to latest figures.

HEWITT ASSOCIATES, a global human resources services company, yesterday released the monthly Hewitt Managed Fund Index, an indicator of Irish Pension Managed Fund performance, for the month of April 2009.

THE Government’s decision to use the National Pension Reserve Fund to recapitalise the banks has been severely criticised by the OECD.

PENSION holders on defined contribution (DC) schemes could be missing out on significant amounts of retirement income.

SOON-TO-RETIRE workers fearful for their private pension funds have been assured the Government will support them — but only by giving them the standard old-age pension to which they are already entitled.

THE fall in global asset values have wiped billions off the value of Irish pensions this year.

AS THE Government tries to entice trade unions back into pay talks, the country’s biggest craft union has instructed its members to start seeking the biggest pay claim to date.

A report on directors’ pay at companies listed on the Irish Stock Exchange has found an average basic pay rise of 12% last year.

THE country’s largest trade union, SIPTU yesterday revealed it had served claims on up to 15 national companies, and dozens more on employers at local level, seeking cost of living pay increases, or above, where it feels that companies can afford to pay extra.

A senior economics lecturer warned today that this country was facing a serious financial situation in the wake of the economic crisis in the US.

IRISH workers are among the most mobile in the EU with a third in their current job for less than two years and about the same number planning to change jobs again.

Padraic O’Connor has been appointed as chairman of the Irish Stock Exchange at the annual general meeting of the Exchange held this morning in Dublin.

US investors found some reassurance in weak job growth figures today, and sent stocks sharply higher on the assumption that the numbers will prompt Federal Reserve to be less aggressive in raising interest rates.