Pension crisis forces Puerto Rico retirees to rethink future

[...] the 70-year-old is working as a second-grade teacher's assistant to supplement his pension as the U.S. territory's government warns its public retirement system could dry up by next year amid an economic crisis.

Puerto Rico's economic crisis has left the public retirement system with a more than $40 billion deficit and that's pushing elderly people who depend on it back into the workforce.

The government is Puerto Rico's largest employer, and its three main retirement systems pay pensions to more than 150,000 former government workers.

The systems' combined liability grew by $10 billion from 2009 to 2013, prompting the former governor to increase retirement ages, reduce benefits and increase employer and employee contributions.

Independent audits have shown the pension system was long mishandled and that past governments increased worker benefits without adding money to the system.

Newly elect Gov. Ricardo Rossello has promised to protect government retirees and recently approved a law seeking to boost the public pension system with private investment.

Officials say such moves would only increase the number of government retirees and shrink the payroll, diminishing contributions to an already wobbly system.