January 2022
06Jan

Did Pandemic Unemployment Benefits Reduce Employment? Evidence from Early State-Level Expirations in June 2021

By Harry J. Holzer, R. Glenn Hubbard & Michael R. Strain The generosity of Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefits was expanded during the pandemic (FPUC), along with the groups of workers eligible for benefits (PUA). These two programs were set to expire in September 2021, but 18 states opted out of both in June 2021. Using Current Population Survey data, we present difference-in-difference and event study estimates that the flow of unemployed workers into employment increased by around two-thirds following early...

January 6, 2022
Articles, Labor Market, , ,
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December 2021

Leveraging identification to extend social insurance to the informal sector
23Dec

Leveraging identification to extend social insurance to the informal sector

Providing pensions and other forms of social insurance to people requires keeping track of large numbers of individuals over long periods of time. There is little margin for error. Allocating contributions of one individual to the pension of another not only affects individual fates. It also risks undermining the trust in the entire system and without trust social insurance cannot work. In the formal economy with contractual employer-employee relationships, the identification of an individual over a long period can (at...

December 23, 2021
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11Dec

Artificial Intelligence and Big Data in the Age of COVID-19

By Francisco J. Bariffi & Julia M. Puaschunder The view that the COVID19 pandemic has set in motion profound changes in our modern societies is practically unanimous. The global effort to contain, cure, and eradicate COVID19 has been greatly benefited by the use, development and/or adaptation of technological tools for mass surveillance based on artificial intelligence and robotics systems. The management of the COVID19 pandemic yet has also revealed many shortcomings generated from the need to make decisions “in extremis”....

December 11, 2021
Articles, System Sustainability, , ,
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Priorities for social security Trends, challenges and solutions
06Dec

Priorities for social security Trends, challenges and solutions

By ISSA This report is the result of collective efforts by the professional staff of the Social Security Development branch of the General Secretariat of the International Social Security Association and external experts. Staff were assigned responsibility for authoring specific chapters and sections for this seminal report. Get the book here 368 views

December 6, 2021
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October 2021
28Oct

UK: Pension top-up for 1.2m low earners

Around 1.2m low earners currently missing out on tax top-ups on their pension contributions are to receive payments from the government under measures outlined in the Budget. Currently, individuals who don’t earn enough to pay tax, including hundreds of thousands of female part-time workers, are denied a government top-up on their pension contributions if they are enrolled in a “net pay” pension plan by their employer. In contrast, a similar low-earning saver enrolled in a “relief at source” pension arrangement can...

October 28, 2021
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27Oct

Liberia ex-warlord Taylor sues for pensions, benefits

Former Liberian warlord-turned-president Charles Taylor, jailed for five decades for war crimes, has filed a lawsuit against his country's government over its "refusal" to pay his pension and retirement benefits, according to a court statement. Taylor sparked a 13-year civil war in Liberia when he led a rebellion in 1989 to oust President Samuel Doe, which spiralled into one of Africa's bloodiest conflicts. He is currently serving a 50-year sentence in a British prison after being convicted in 2012 by a...

October 27, 2021
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15Oct

The COVID-19 Pandemic and Precarious Aging: The Importance of an Equity Response

By Marc A. Garcia, Adriana M. Reyes & Catherine Garcia Older Black, Indigenous, and Latinx adults are at a higher risk of negative COVID-19 outcomes relative to older non-Latinx White adults. Mounting evidence regarding the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on communities of color lays bare the effects of long-standing and deeply rooted structural racism in American society. Residential and occupational segregation and unequal access to health-promoting resources such as education, income, wealth, and quality healthcare have exposed and amplified pre-existing...

October 15, 2021
Aging, Articles, , , ,
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11Oct

South Africa: A New Social Assistance Assessment Aims to Help Strengthen Policies and Programs for the Poor

By  India Education Diary Bureau Admin  The World Bank, in collaboration with the Government of South Africa, released a new report assessing the country’s social assistance programs and systems. In an environment of high unemployment, persistent poverty, weak economic growth and shrinking fiscal resources that has been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Social Assistance Programs and Systems Review: South Africa report underscores the critical role of the grant and social assistance system in mitigating poverty. This report also provides...

October 11, 2021
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08Oct

National pension reform: Why it is imperative in South Africa

When the Department of Social Development (DSD) released its Green Paper on Comprehensive Social Security and Retirement Reforms, the proposal to set up a national pension scheme was swiftly shot down. The Green Paper proposed a National Social Security Fund to which all workers earning over R1,667 a month would contribute. Employers and employees would initially contribute between 8% and 12% of earnings up to a ceiling of R23,000 a month. Such was the force of the opposition that there was...

October 8, 2021
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September 2021
24Sep

The Affordable Care Act After a Decade: Its Impact On The Labor Market And The Macro Economy

By Hanming Fang, Dirk Krueger The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is one of the most important reforms of the US health insurance system since the introduction of Medicare. Since employment is a main source of health insurance for the working age population in the United States, this sweeping health insurance reform also has important implications for the labor market and the macro economy. In this paper, we survey the prototype models that are used in the macro and labor literature,...

September 24, 2021
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