December 2021

US. Gig Economy Retirement Planning

Gig workers, like everyone else, deserve a pension. Freelancers, contract workers, self-employed, temp workers, on-call employees, and individuals with side hustles make up a significant component of our economy. Currently, 57 million Americans are estimated to be gig workers. Since March of last year, freelancing and gig marketplaces like Gigspot and Upwork have reported growth in users. Freelancers may make up half of US employment by 2023. Statista reported data from a 2018 poll in January indicating 27% of full-time...

UK. Platforms must help advisers reduce carbon footprints

Platforms must explore ways to support advisers in their digital and sustainable goals, M&G Wealth’s sales director has said. Justin Blower told FTAdviser UK platforms needed to keep up the momentum in their digitisation and automation strategies, as hybrid advice becomes more important in a post-pandemic world and the UK government increasingly prioritises carbon neutrality in the wake of Cop26. “Generally, advice firms have embraced portals and technology that allow them to service clients remotely,” said Blower. “And many more clients...

India’s expanding gig economy must treat workers fairly

The gig economy and its growing fault lines between gig employees and platform companies are in the news again, with 50 women “partners" of Urban Company’s (UC) salon and spa vertical protesting against policy changes that will come into effect from January. These, they claim, will affect their ability to earn and are therefore “unfair labour practices". The company, India’s largest home-services provider, has filed a lawsuit in Gurugram’s district court against the protests. The judgement in this case...

PinBox pushes to bring more global workers into retirement savings tent

Gautam Bhardwaj is aiming to get 100 million workers in the informal sectors of India's economy — from Uber drivers to farmers to domestic servants — to start saving for retirement over the next five years. For the co-founder and director of Singapore-based pension-tech provider pinBox Solutions Pte. Ltd., that amounts to a quick pivot from an initial success in Rwanda — where in close collaboration with the government, pinBox helped 1.5 million informal sector workers, a quarter of that...

E.U. Plan to Boost Gig Economy Workers Is Latest Blow to Apps

European Union plan to improve conditions for the growing number of gig economy workers could mean millions more of them are classified as employees entitled to benefits, the latest setback for digital platforms that rely on independent contractors to deliver food and offer rides. The draft rules outlined Thursday aim to clarify the labor status of people employed by app-based companies like ride-hailing service Uber and food delivery business Deliveroo and would add oversight for the algorithms they use to...

Nigeria. PenCom says 72,000 participants registered for Micro Pension Plan

The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has disclosed that 72,000 participants have been registered under the Micro Pension Plan (MPP) as at November 2021. This was disclosed by Head, Micro Pension Department, PenCom, Mr Dowda Ahmed, in an interview on Friday with NAN during the Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria (PenOp) Annual Media Parley in Lagos, themes, “Micro Pension – Challenges and Opportunities.” He also pointed out the category of people under the scheme. What PenCom is saying Ahmed stated that the scheme...

Brexit would be better for UK workers, Boris Johnson promised. But will it?

The European Commission’s plans to protect people in precarious jobs in the gig economy could be the most ambitious extension of workers’ rights from Brussels since Britain left the EU. If adopted, the plans would mean that gig economy companies, such as Uber and Deliveroo, would have to treat workers as employees with minimum wages (where they exist), sick pay, holidays and better accident insurance, unless they could prove that drivers and couriers were genuinely self-employed. Workers would also get greater...

Pensions at a Glance 2021 OECD AND G20 INDICATORS

Pensions at a Glance 2021 OECD AND G20 INDICATORS

By: OECD This ninth edition of Pensions at a Glance provides a range of indicators for comparing pension policies and their outcomes between OECD countries. The indicators are also, where possible, provided for the other major economies that are members of the G20. Two special chapters provide a review of the impact of COVID‑19 on pensions and of recent pension reforms (Chapter 1) and an indepth analysis of automatic adjustment in pension systems (Chapter 2). Get the book here

Kenya. Zamara targets WhatsApp users with digital pensions plan

Zamara Group has expanded its digital pension plan Fahari Retirement to allow users to access it on the online messaging app WhatsApp. The pension firm targets to grow its customer base for its retirement products, especially in the informal sector. Fahari Retirement Plan allows individuals to save as low as Sh20 per day or Sh300 per month. They can access the funds after 50 years in lump sum or as regular income. Customers are also allowed to withdraw their savings anytime...

Jamaica. Informal Sector Workers to Get NIS Benefits

Jamaica. Informal Sector Workers to Get NIS Benefits

For the first time, Jamaica’s household helpers and fisherfolk will be able to secure pension benefits under the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) as the Government moves to formalise these sectors. This will be facilitated under the Transition to Formality Action Plan, which will see this segment of workers being able to access health and life insurance, pension and other facilities to provide them with security and protection in their work environment. The Action Plan, which was officially launched by Minister of...