88% of workers without a pension Worst women hit IFS | Economic news



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The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), a think tank on fiscal policy, deplored the low number of people covered by pensions in the country and revealed that the informal nature of the economy had left well over 80% of Ghanaians without sustainable income. retirement.

The issue of low pension coverage is more pronounced among women, men with more than two years of work likely to be covered by a pension scheme than their female counterparts, said in Accra.

The institute has therefore called for innovative ways to help expand coverage to more Ghanaians to help protect the population in retirement.

With the help of data from the National Authority for Pensions and Regulations (NPRA) and the Trust for Social Security and National Insurance (SSNIT), researcher at the institute, M Leslie Dwight Mensah said that out of the 12 million residents, 12.3% were currently covered by pensions.

"This implies that the remaining 88% will be discovered and that it will mainly be people working in the informal sector," he said at a national pensions dialogue held on Tuesday. July 2 in Accra.

The data used for the presentation ended in 2013, which, according to Mr. Mensah, was the last reliable data available for the institute.

At the event organized by the IFS, his presentation focused on "The coverage and benefits of pensions in Ghana".

It brought together the sector regulator, the ANRP, the SSNIT, experts and private sector actors to discuss the state of pensions and how to maintain and improve it.

Informality on the labor market

The researcher at IFS said the data also showed that while virtually all public sector workers were covered by pensions, those in the private sector were barely covered, as the majority of them were covered. were working in the informal sector.

He said that private sector pension coverage was 6.8% from 2013, revealing "the problem of high informality in the labor market" in the country.

He added that the data also showed that people living in the south of the country – the 11 southern regions of the country were three times more likely to receive a pension than those living in the north of the country.

This, he said, also reflected "the fact that people working in the North tend to be involved in informal types of work in relation to formal types of work and that when they reach 60 and more, they are less likely to receive a pension. "

Pension requirement

At present, the National Pension Law (Amendment) Act No. 833 (2014) obliges all public sector workers to contribute to a pension scheme under either the SSNIT or the PSSA. 39, one of the non-contributory schemes managed by the Ghana Audit Service. Armed Ghana

Forces, among other state agencies.
Under the first-tier system, employers are mandated to contribute to the SSNIT and private administrators under the second tier.

The third tier, which is a voluntary scheme, now offers workers and / or their employers the opportunity to contribute to any private-sector-sponsored scheme as additional income at retirement.

Same thing in the private sector, but most employers and / or employees scarcely register for contributions and those who do not honor them.

Distribution by bad

Mensah said men at work were more than twice as likely to be covered by a pension plan as their female counterparts.

He said that in 2013, while 17.1% of men at work were covered by a pension, only 7.8% of women were covered.

"This reflects the fact that women are generally turning to informal employment and that, as the pension system has a harder time reaching the informal sector, it is less able to capture them," she said. he declared.

Regarding the retired population, Mr Mensah said the data showed that out of 1.9 million people aged over 60 in the country, only 14% were receiving a pension in 2018.

"The rest will be those who will have to continue to break their backs to earn a living, depend on the family or transfers from the Livelihoods Empowerment Program (LEAP)," he said.

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