admin, Author at Pension Policy International

14NovNovember 14, 2022

South Africa. Unions and SOEs that fail to pay employee benefits are facing few to no consequences

Retirement, medical and other contributions deducted from employees’ salaries are not being paid to the relevant funds and schemes by some SOEs and unions. In a tough economic environment, unions and state-owned enterprises (SOEs) are starting to default on employee benefits such as retirement fund and medical scheme contributions. And there are apparently few to no consequences for this behaviour. Earlier this week, Pension Funds Adjudicator Muvhango Lukhaimane issued a ruling against the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu)...

November 14, 2022

Newssavings, South Africa

14NovNovember 14, 2022

Jamaica. Automatic pension enrolment will save retirees

85 per cent of UK workers now pensionable vs 18 per cent in Jamaica With about 18 per cent of Jamaica's working population having a pension plan, the retirement crisis persists and this situation should be of grave concern to the Government and all taxpayers. Jamaica has an ageing population which is increasingly at risk of pension poverty, ie inadequate retirement income. As such, I am recommending the automatic or mandatory enrolment of eligible employees in a workplace pension plan. This would...

November 14, 2022

NewsAdequacy, Enrollment, Jamaica

14NovNovember 14, 2022

Time to address declining birth rates in the Middle East

Strong economies rely on the right combination of population demographics, skill sets and resources to achieve remarkable performance. However, in recent years, many countries have recorded alarming, record-low birth rates, with dire and multifaceted consequences. To illustrate the gravity of this issue, countries need a replacement rate of 2.1 children per woman to maintain a stable population size. Nonetheless, in 2021, the fertility rate in many countries was below this figure. For instance, Australia recorded 1.7 births per woman, while...

November 14, 2022

NewsAging

11NovNovember 11, 2022

Preparing for Retirement Reforms

By Karen E. Smith, Eugene Steurele, Damir Cosic Each of the three pillars of the US retirement system—Social Security, employer pensions, and private savings—suffers from serious problems that could threaten the financial security of future retirees. Social Security is at risk of becoming insolvent. If policymakers fail to act, Social Security benefits will be cut by about 25 percent starting in 2035, and even with reform, some combination of a slowdown in benefit growth for retirees and higher taxes on...

November 11, 2022

Articles, Pension design2022, Financial Literacy, Pension Reform, Social Security, Taxation, US

11NovNovember 11, 2022

Cognitive Abilities, Self-Efficacy, and Financial Behavior

By Ning Tang This paper investigates the effect of cognitive abilities on financial behavior among older adults. Using the longitudinal dataset of the Health and Retirement Study, I find that cognitive abilities significantly affect financial behavior through two channels: ability and self-efficacy. People with higher cognition scores, who presumably are more capable of processing information and analyzing problems, achieve better financial outcomes. This positive association is especially strong in tasks having high demand of cognitive ability, which confirms the ability...

November 11, 2022

Aging, Articles2021, Behavioral Science, Financial Literacy

11NovNovember 11, 2022

Future-Proof Work? The Experiences of Gig Economy Workers in the Philippines

By Christopher Ed Caboverde & John Paul Flaminiano The COVID-19 pandemic caused massive disruptions in the job market. This also puts the "gig economy" in the spotlight since many workers are seeing it as a viable career option, and are considering leaving their 9-to-5 jobs to pursue a career there. Even before the pandemic, the gig economy forms a significant portion of the workforce in different countries. This paper aims to understand the journey and experiences of location-dependent and purely...

November 11, 2022

Articles, Labor Market2022, Informal Sector, Philippines, Social Security

11NovNovember 11, 2022

Canadian teachers could have a $95 million hole in their pensions due to the FTX crypto implosion

The crisis at cryptocurrency exchange FTX is having ramifications far and wide. Now Canada’s third largest pension plan is revealing details about its exposure to the troubled company led by 30-year-old crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried. On Thursday, the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan (OTPP) released a statement saying that in October 2021 it invested $75 million in both FTX International and its U.S. entity FTX.US. Additionally, it said, it made a follow-on investment of $20 million in FTX.US in January this...

November 11, 2022

NewsCanada, Investment, Pension Management

11NovNovember 11, 2022

Liquidity crunch tops institutional investors’ greatest tail risks

The top three tail risks for global institutional asset owners are an unexpected liquidity crunch, a military conflict in the Asia-Pacific region and a major cyberattack, according to a new survey conducted by PGIM, the money management subsidiary of Prudential Financial. The survey of 400 senior investment officials at asset owners representing more than $12 trillion in assets shows the greatest common level of concern is a liquidity crunch in capital markets resulting in a market crash, according to a...

November 11, 2022

NewsPension Management, Risk

11NovNovember 11, 2022

UK. Ten years of Automatic Enrolment achieves over £114bn pension savings

In 2021, employees across the UK saved £114.6 billion into their pensions. This is a real terms increase of £32.9 billion compared to 2012, when Automatic Enrolment was introduced. The figures reveal how the policy has transformed pensions saving over the last ten years for people from Sterling to Southend, by normalising workplace pension saving, establishing a culture of retirement saving for a new generation, and helping foster a greater sense of security in later life. More than 10.7 million employees...

November 11, 2022

NewsBehavioral Economics, Pension design, UK

11NovNovember 11, 2022

Chile. El talón de Aquiles de las reformas de pensiones

El debate se centra en dónde colocar los 6 puntos extras de cotización y se pierde el foco sobre la principal causa de que las pensiones sean bajas en Chile: nuestro débil mercado laboral formal. Bajo cualquier sistema de pensiones, ya sea capitalización individual o colectiva, reparto o cuentas nocionales, el monto de las pensiones está determinado por el número de años cotizados y por el monto del sueldo por el que se cotiza, es decir, el empleo formal. Esta...

November 11, 2022

Noticias, NoticiasChile, Reforma de Pensiones

November 2022