The gap between what state governments have promised employees in pension benefits and the funding to meet those obligations widened to $914 billion at the end of 2012.

The highest-ranking state for workplace retirement plan participation in 2012, Iowa, had only 54 percent of private employees participating in a pension or 401(k).

Financial literacy has become a priority for corporations, multiemployer trust funds and public-sector employers in both the U.S. and Canada, according to a survey by the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans.

An annual 3 percent compounded cost-of-living pension increases would be tied to inflation and would be skipped in certain years.