July 2023
23Jul

Strengthening Retirement Income Security: Fairer Tax Rules and More Options Needed

By Alexandre Laurin & George Turpie  Simple changes to tax rules can improve retirement security for Canadians, as well as make the retirement system more equitable among different classes of savers, and more efficient at managing longevity risks for capital decumulation. This E-Brief provides a discussion of needed retirement-related tax changes impacting members of capital accumulation plans, such as RRSPs and defined-contribution (DC) plans, divided into the accumulation and decumulation phases. Among the key tax changes recommended for the accumulation phase:...

July 23, 2023
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June 2023
23Jun

A review of gender differences in retirement income

By Jennifer Curtin & Yanshu Huang  A research report prepared for the Commission for Financial Capability’s Review of Retirement Income Policy, July 2019. This review seeks to answer the following questions: How wide is the Gender Pension Gap in New Zealand? What is the coverage of KiwiSaver by gender? How does this compare with international trends? Is the Gender Pension Gap reducing (as gender pay gaps are) over time (drawing on both international and NZ data where available)? What accounts...

June 23, 2023
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23Jun

Sexual orientation and labor market outcomes

By Nick Drydakis  Currently, being gay or lesbian is illegal in almost 80 countries, meaning that 2.7 billion people live in countries where having a minority sexual orientation is a crime. Additionally, fewer than 20% of countries have adopted employment anti-discrimination laws to protect gay and lesbian employees. On average, Australia, Canada, the US, and the EU have the strongest protection of sexual orientation rights, including workplace anti-discrimination laws and some studies in these countries have examined labor market outcomes...

June 23, 2023
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23Jun

The Wage Gap Among LGBTQ+ Workers in the United States

By HRC Foundation  In an HRC Foundation analysis of nearly 7,000 full-time LGBTQ+ workers, median earnings were about $900 weekly, about 90% of the $1,001 median weekly wage a typical worker earns in the United States, as reported recently by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Put another way, LGBTQ+ workers earn about 90 cents for every dollar that the typical worker earns. LGBTQ+ people of color, transgender women and men and non-binary individuals earn even less when compared to the...

June 23, 2023
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22Jun

Jamaica. Increases in NIS pensions

The Ministry of Labour and Social Security is reporting that the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) pensioners started receiving their increases in June. Addressing Wednesday’s post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House, Portfolio Minister, Pearnel Charles Jr, said the pension rate increases range from 23 to 76 per cent under the National Insurance Scheme. “We are very pleased to report that our NIS pensioners began receiving their increases on June 15. It is very important for us to make sure that our pensioners...

June 22, 2023
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14Jun

South Korea. Rapid population aging to accelerate income inequity

Income inequality in Korea is likely to accelerate due to a rapidly aging population, according to a report released by the Bank of Korea (BOK) on Wednesday. The report revealed that income inequality among households has worsened by 30 percent over the past 25 years, largely as a result of the aging population. "The aging population is expected to have a significant negative impact on the Korean economy, not only by lowering labor productivity and increasing the burden of care, but...

June 14, 2023
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08Jun

New global report highlights older people’s risk of starvation and extreme poverty due to rising global costs

Older people selling assets or even begging on the street to survive: “We buy bread and cheese and feed the children while we do not eat.” “We get sick and we no longer go to the hospital due to high transportation costs …the only thing left is for us to die.” The global food, fuel and finance crisis is having a devastating impact on millions of older people across the world. It is leaving them struggling to afford food and...

June 8, 2023
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May 2023
08May

502,855 workers paid GH₵500 or less a month in Ghana

Data made available by the Social Security and National Trust (SSNIT), has demonstrated that most Ghanaian workers are paid low salaries and wages. Crux of the low pensions This is the crux of the low pensions paid to majority of the over 230,000 pensioners currently in the country. 1.9m active contributors The records show that the total number of contributors as at April 2023 amounts to over 1.9 million (1,930,780). The data reveals that only 27.7% of active contributors earn between GH₵2,000 and GH₵5,000...

May 8, 2023
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05May

The Limited Role of Intergenerational Transfers for Understanding Racial Wealth Disparities

By John Sabelhaus & Jeffrey P. Thompson Transfers of wealth between generations—whether through inheritances or inter vivos gifts—are less important in explaining racial disparities in wealth than might be expected. While this factor looms large in the media’s discussions of racial inequality, it explains relatively little of the disparities evident in the data. One reason is that most people, regardless of race, receive no inheritance or other transfer of substantial value. In addition, most recipients of inheritances ultimately consume those...

May 5, 2023
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05May

Pensioners in South Africa, Kenya, and Nigeria are among the poorest globally- report

A new report by Allianz, an international financial services provider, has revealed that retirees in several African countries are among the poorest globally. The report, which surveyed 75 countries, including five in Africa, cites an ineffective pension system and a lack of adequate retirement benefits as the major reasons for the alarming trend. In Egypt, for instance, the report notes that the gross benefit level is merely 18 per cent, leaving many senior citizens struggling to make ends meet. Similarly,...

May 5, 2023
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