Employees still uncertain about retirement.

Health-care costs remain a major source of concern for the public sector, according to a survey conducted by the Center for State and Local Government Excellence and TIAA-CREF Institute. Just 18 percent of full-time public-sector workers are very confident about their retirement income prospects, down from 21 percent in 2012. In particular, many public-sector workers also express concern about retiree health-care costs, future Social Security and Medicare benefits, and their own saving and investing for retirement.

The report--the 2014 Retirement Confidence Survey of the State and Local Government Workforce--surveyed more than 1,200 state and local government employees across the nation, including public educators, police officers, and firefighters. It updates information from the 2012 Retirement Confidence Survey of the State and Local Government Workforce.

Highlights from the report include the following:

* Virtually all full-time state and local workers are covered by some form of retirement plan offered by their employer, but only 39 percent are very confident that they will receive all of the benefits that they have earned in retirement.

* In comparison to 2012, when 72 percent of respondents expected to work for pay after retiring, the figure has dropped to 49 percent in 2014.

* While 2014 confidence levels in overall retirement income prospects are generally consistent with 2012 (18 percent are very confident and 56 percent somewhat confident), there was a decrease in the proportion...