April 2023

Priorities for social security Trends, challenges and solutions

By Raúl Ruggia-Frick The International Social Security Association (ISSA) draws its value, strength and dynamism from its global membership, which consists of national institutions that administer the main social security programmes in their countries. This gives the Association a unique and privileged vantage point from which to identify and analyse priority administration and policy challenges in social security, and the many innovative responses and creative solutions to these. The ISSA was looking to the future when it set the priorities of...

Aging, Inadequacy, and Fiscal Constraint: The Case of Thailand

By Phitawat Poonpolkul, Ponpoje Porapakkarm & Nada Wasi We use an overlapping generations model to study the challenge in developing countries with a large informal sector and aging populations. We use Thailand as a case study and incorporate its labor market structure and its public pension system into the calibrated model. Unlike developed countries, workers in developing countries commonly transit from the formal sector to the informal sector, which can be in the early stage of their working life. This...

March 2023

Chinese cities are so broke, they’re cutting medical benefits for seniors

China's government, strapped for cash after years of enforcing a costly zero-Covid policy, is cutting medical benefits and planning to raise the retirement age, in deeply unpopular moves that are fueling widespread public anger. Thousands of elderly people have been taking to the streets since January to protest big cuts to monthly medical benefit payments. They've gathered in four major cities across the country, demanding local officials reverse the decisions. The changes are part of a national overhaul mainly intended to...

Legal & General U.S. Gig Economy study

By Sir Nigel Wilson, John Godfrey & Edyta Borowy (Legal & General) The data was collected via online survey fielded to individuals sample sourced from YouGov’s US panel. The survey scripted and hosted on Gryphon, YouGov’s proprietary survey scripting platform and the field work took place between August 19 and 31, 2022. 1,044 surveys of freelancers and self-employed workers between 18 and 60 years old, non-student/non retired drawing 60% or more of their income from gig work were completed. Key...

February 2023

Social Security Benefits: The Good and Bad News for Retired Workers in 2023

Social Security is a major source of financial well-being in retirement. Nearly 49 million retired workers received benefits in January, and about half of people aged 65 and older get at least 50% of their family income from Social Security. Given its importance, retired workers should try to stay informed on the program, and there have been several big changes already this year. Inflation scorched the U.S. economy last year, driving up the cost of gasoline, groceries, and other necessities...

Gig economy report 2022

By Pascale Moreau The balance between flexibility, autonomous working and social protection has been a long time discussion within the gig economy and its complexities have kept legislators busy in recent years. As a result, the draft European Directive on Platform work is one of the most discussed topics of the year. It introduces various criteria which - if applicable - could result in a legal presumption of employment for the worker. In this year’s PwC Legal’s 2022 Gig Economy...

The Progress of Social Security Measures for Labourers in India

By Dr. S.R. Keshava Social security has gained paramount importance in the changed economic scenario. Social security programmes are actively undertaken even in developed nations. The USA social security administration points out that it is much more than retirement program. One in Six Americans (57 million) receives social security benefits in USA. India also has enacted many social security measures for its needy citizens. In order to protect the welfare of unorganized workers the legislative measures namely minimunm wages Act, 1948,...

January 2023

Financial regret at older ages and longevity awareness

By Abigail Hurwitz & Olivia S. Mitchell Older people often express regret about financial decisions made earlier in life that left them susceptible to old-age insecurity. Prior work has explored one outcome, saving regret, or peoples’ expressed wish that they had saved more earlier in life. The present paper extends attention to five additional areas regarding financial decisions, examining whether older Americans also regret not having insured better, claimed benefits and quit working too early, and becoming financially dependent on...

Azerbaijan To Increase Social Benefits, Pensions

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has signed a decree on additional measures to improve the social welfare of the population, trend reports. According to the decree, the Cabinet of Ministers was instructed to submit proposals to the President of Azerbaijan on increasing the amount of social benefits and pensions. Starting January 1, 2023, the minimum monthly wage and pension was increased in Azerbaijan. The increase of minimum wage is 15%, and the minimum pension 16%. According to experts, wage growth is...

December 2022

Turn the Ship: The Moral Imperative and Legal Authority to Protect Retirees with Defaulted Student Loans from Social Security Offset

Turn the Ship: The Moral Imperative and Legal Authority to Protect Retirees with Defaulted Student Loans from Social Security Offset

By: Johnson Tyler The U.S. Department of Education (ED) is not powerless when it comes to debt collection or defaulted borrowers. It both has the moral imperative and legal authority to stop seizing Social Security benefits from elderly (62+) borrowers in default. An underutilized law allows an agency to exempt an entire class of debtors from Treasury Offset, the debt collection process that leads to the reduction of Social Security payments. This paper explains the history of offset; why recent...