February 2024
29Feb

Ghana. 600,000 Self-employed enrolled on SSNIT pension scheme

Since the launch of the Self-Employed Enrolment Drive (SEED) initiative by the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), some 600,000 self-employed persons have been enrolled on the programme, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has said. He did not immediately mention the number that joined monthly but noted that, these self-employed persons were now having some form of social security cover. The President announced this when he laid the State of the Nation Address (SONA) before Parliament in Accra on Tuesday. “Mr...

February 29, 2024
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26Feb

World Bank Urges Malaysia to Mandate Retirement Savings for Digital Platform Workers

In a world where the gig economy is not just an option but a necessity for many, the World Bank has cast a spotlight on Malaysia, urging the government to adopt a pioneering approach to safeguard its informal workers.At the heart of this recommendation is a call for mandatory contributions to retirement savings for those earning through digital platforms. This suggestion comes at a critical juncture, as the gig economy's productivity in Malaysia soared to RM1.33 billion in the third...

February 26, 2024
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20Feb

Ghana. 71,000 Self-employed enrolled onto Tier 1 pension scheme — SSNIT

The Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) has enrolled over 71,000 informal sector and self-employed persons onto the state-run Tier One pension scheme. The significant increase of contributors from 14,200 to 71,000 as of May last year followed the implementation of a self-employed enrolment drive (SEED) initiative. “The initiative has made it possible for artisans, carpenters, masons, tailors, auto-mechanics and traders to contribute towards their pension. “SSNIT has targeted to enrol about 10 per cent of the 3.6 million self-employed Ghanaians...

February 20, 2024
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15Feb

U.S., U.K. delivery, ride-hailing drivers stop work on Valentine’s Day over pay, employee benefits

Thousands of ride-hailing and delivery workers in the U.S. and the U.K. went on strike on Valentine’s Day, calling for higher pay and other changes to their working conditions. In the U.S., Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. drivers planned day-long strikes and held mid-day demonstrations at airports in several cities, including Chicago, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Miami, Orlando and Tampa, according to Justice for App Workers, the group organizing the effort. Meanwhile, U.K. delivery drivers for Uber Eats, Deliveroo, Just Eat and...

February 15, 2024
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January 2024
15Jan

Ghana. SSNIT to intensify campaign to enrol more self-employed

The Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) is to intensify its initiative aimed at roping in more informal sector and self-employed persons in Ghana onto the state-run Tier One pension scheme. Riding on the successes of last year when it launched the Self Employed Enrolment Drive (SEED), SSNIT believes that a more aggressive approach to push the initiative will attract more people in that bracket to secure them a better future when they retire. The Director-General of SSNIT, Dr John...

January 15, 2024
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08Jan

US. How the Gig Economy Is Reshaping Retirement Planning

As many as 50% of Americans have some sort of side gig, whether this is primarily how they make money, or in addition to a regular job. The gig economy, a phenomenon that may have emerged as a response to the high unemployment rates of the 2008-2009 recession, has become a part of American life, and it’s reshaping retirement. While these gigs offer workers more flexibility and variety, they may also come with some downsides, affecting how financially set people are for retirement. Some...

January 8, 2024
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03Jan

Nigeria. Stakeholders Worry Over Slow Pace Of Micro Pension Plan

The ever slow pace with which Micro Pension Plan (MPP) is being subscribed to has been a source for concern for the operators, regulators and other stake­holders. Launched by the immediate past Pres­ident Muhammadu Buhari in 2019, four years down the line not much has been achieved in terms of numbers of contrib­utors and of course, micro pension assets under management. The MPP was launched to bring into the pension net, work­ers in the informal sector of the economy who are...

January 3, 2024
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December 2023
20Dec

Mexico. Informal Economy Hits Record High, Signaling Economic Resilience Amid Challenges

In a significant economic revelation for 2022, a country’s informal economy soared to 24.4% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in current values. This figure denotes an uptick of 0.4 percentage points, marking the highest since records began in 2003. The informal sector, chiefly composed of microbusinesses without basic legal registries, contributed 13.3% to the GDP, while other forms of informality added another 11.1%. The Implications of an Informal Economy Informal labour is defined by the lack of an official work...

December 20, 2023
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15Dec

Working Without Borders: The Promise and Peril of Online Gig Work

By Datta Namita,Rong Chen, Singh Sunamika, Stinshoff Clara, Iacob Nadina, Nigatu Natnael Simachew, Nxumalo Mpumelelo & Klimaviciute Luka Online gig work poses both opportunities and challenges for governments and workers. On the upside, it offers prospects for income generation, especially in developing countries, where most people work in low-productivity, low-quality, often informal jobs. The virtual and often temporary nature of gig work also provides flexibility for often neglected groups such as women, youth, migrants, and people with disabilities. These jobs...

December 15, 2023
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14Dec

Nigeria. Pension coverage: Micro pension’s impact on informal sector (Part 1)

The Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) is a vital initiative empowering individuals to secure their financial well-being in old age. Tailored initially for formal sector employees, the CPS was extended to include informal sector workers following the Pension Reform Act (PRA) amendment in 2014. Guided by the provisions of the PRA 2014, the National Pension Commission (PenCom) introduced the Micro Pension Plan (MPP) with the specific objective of broadening pension coverage to include workers in the informal sector. Under the MPP,...

December 14, 2023
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