Benefits October 23, 2002

GM Makes Official Hike in Matching Contribution

October 23, 2002 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - General Motors Corp. published the extent of the earlier-announced hike in its matching contribution to the General Motors Savings-Stock Purchase Program, the company's defined contribution plan.

Reported by

Fred Schneyer

In the official announcement, GM said beginning January 1 it will raise its matching contribution to $0.50 cents on each dollar up to the first 6% of eligible salary, according to Dow Jones.

The move came after the company twice cut its match since March 2001. First, the match fell from $0.80 to $0.60. And then in January, it went from $0.60 to $0.20 .

At the same time, GM and other auto makers are faced with a shortfall in their defined benefit plans. Through the first nine months of 2002, the return on General Motors’ assets held in the US hourly and salaried employee pension funds was about negative 10%.