July 2022

Old Age Pensions and Social Security Today: Need to Introduce ‘Time Bank’ for the Unmet Social Needs of the Elderly in Uganda

By Kibs Boaz Muhanguzi World over, many programs have been put in place to ensure reasonable welfare and relevance of the elderly senior citizens in the community. Out of these diverse programs, pensions and social security fund, and Social Assistance Grants for the Elderly (SAGE) are common. Of recent, the introduction of time banks; a non-financial, barter system of exchange, with the aim of ensuring access to the unmet social needs of the elderly people in the community has emerged....

June 2022

US. Social Security is valuable and needs attention sooner rather than later

This program has demonstrated its worth in tumultuous times The 2022 Social Security Trustees Report, which was prepared in February when the outlook for the economy looked less uncertain, shows a slight decrease in the program's 75-year deficit from 3.54% to 3.42% of taxable payroll (see Figure 1). The depletion date for the trust fund bounced back from 2034 to 2035. What does a deficit of 3.42% of taxable payrolls mean? That figure means that if payroll taxes were raised immediately...

That Social Security Income Replacement Cliff Could Hurt

Social Security will keep paying retirement benefits in 2035, even if its trust fund empties out, but the cut in the amount would be huge. That’s the assessment of Alicia Munnell, director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. Munnell, one of the top academic retirement researchers in the world, says Social Security should receive enough payroll tax revenue to pay 80% of the currently promised benefits from current income in 2035, and about 74% of the promised benefits...

US. Senate Version of SECURE 2.0 Set to Move Forward

The Senate version of SECURE 2.0, titled the “Enhancing American Retirement Now (EARN) Act,” is scheduled for mark up Wednesday morning. The news comes two weeks after Senators Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Richard Burr, R-N.C., introduced a SECURE 2.0-like bill titled the “Retirement Improvement and Savings Enhancement to Supplement Healthy Investments for the Nest Egg (RISE & SHINE) Act.” “Americans deserve dignified retirements after decades of hard work, and our bill is an important step forward,” Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron...

Gay, gray, black, and blue: An examination of some of the challenges faced by older LGBTQ people of color

By Seon Kum Few studies exist that highlight the life experiences of the older LGBTQ person of color. This cohort faces unique challenges in life that have not been explored or investigated extensively, if at all. Older LGBTQ people of color have experienced discrimination based on race, gender, and sexuality in all phases of their lives, often bearing witness to and helping to start various equal rights and social justice movements. In addition to the unique challenges that come with...

Markets and Mandates: Retirement in Chile and the United States

By Manisha Padi Ordinary Americans are accustomed to a strict separation between private markets and public-benefits programs. Government programs, such as Social Security for retirees, disburse benefits to households without regard to the private options available to them. Conversely, private-market regulators, including the Securities and Exchange Commission, make rules about private retirement savings without accounting for public retirement benefits. The result is a disjointed experience for American retirees, whose public benefits are restricted by the Social Security Administration but whose...

Priorities for social security. Trends, challenges and solutions

By Issa The International Social Security Association (ISSA) draws its value, strength and dynamism from a global membership of national institutions that administer the main social security programmes of their countries. This gives the Association a unique and privileged vantage point from which to analyse key policy issues and emerging challenges in social security, and the many innovative responses and creative solutions to these. For its 2020–2022 Programme and Budget, the ISSA defined four priority areas to be addressed during the...

How the U.S. retirement system shortchanges the middle class

America has a vast and elaborate system of public policies supposedly designed to help us all save for retirement and avoid the catastrophe of a penurious and poverty-stricken old age. But does this system end up shortchanging the middle class that is the backbone of the country and the economy? That’s the accusation of a new report from the National Institute for Retirement Security, a nonpartisan think-tank. It’s hard to argue they’re wrong. Read also Governance Issues Loom Over US Pension...

May 2022

The National Landscape of State Retirement Benefits. How Good Are Public Retirement Systems at Putting Employees on a Path to Retirement Income Security?

By Jonathan Moody & Anthony Randazzo  Retirement security is ultimately about retirement income. Families and individuals want to know that during their retirement years they will have enough weekly, monthly, or annual income to live comfortably and meet their basic needs. Of course, many people aspire to more than just the basics. Ask even a handful of individuals about how they want to live in retirement, and you’ll hear a wide range of preferences. Expenses can vary from family-to-family, too,...

Progressing Towards Efficiency: The Role for Labor Tax Progression in Reforming Social Security

Progressing Towards Efficiency: The Role for Labor Tax Progression in Reforming Social Security

By Krzysztof Makarski, Joanna Tyrowicz & Oliwia Komada We study interactions between progressive labor taxation and social security reform. Increasing longevity puts fiscal strain that necessitates the social security reform. The current social security is redistributive, thus providing (at least partial) insurance against idiosyncratic income shocks, but at the expense of labor supply distortions. A reform which links pensions to individual incomes reduces distortions associated with social security contributions, but incurs insurance loss. We show that the progressive labor tax...