May 2025
30May

Income and Wealth Inequality in the United States: An Update Including the 2022 Wave

By Moritz Kuhn & José-Victor Ríos-Rull We provide a comprehensive overview of earnings, income and wealth inequality based on the 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances from the United States. We document the current state of inequality and its evolution over the last three decades organizing the data along key demographic dimensions including age, education, and marital status. The 2022 data reveal that wealth remains highly concentrated, with the top 1% holding 35% of total wealth down from a peak of...

May 30, 2025
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15May

Survey shows cost and awareness gaps hinder access to voluntary insurance in Canada

A national survey conducted by Environics Research revealed gaps between Canadian employees’ desire for voluntary benefits and their access to them. The survey found that most employees consider benefits essential to their happiness and job retention. According to the results, 93 percent of respondents said benefits and insurance options directly influence their workplace satisfaction and decision to remain with their employer. Despite this, only 2 percent said they would ask their employer for more insurance options, even though 66 percent expressed interest...

May 15, 2025
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April 2025
25Apr

Adequacy of future retirement incomes: new evidence for private sector employees

By Jonathan Cribb, Laurence O'Brien & David Sturrock In this report and the accompanying report on policy recommendations (Cribb et al., 2024a), we focus on the outlook for the adequacy of employees’ retirement incomes and changes to automatic enrolment. We do not here consider reforms that we broadly define as aimed at changing investments, costs and returns (including ‘pot for life’ and collective defined contribution pensions) but will return to consider these later in the Pensions Review. A separate report...

April 25, 2025
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March 2025
21Mar

2024 Informal Economy Report

By Moniepoint The informal economy, also known as the shadow economy, comprises businesses that are typically described as untaxed and unregistered. And it is all around you: your family, neighbours, and even friends who have side hustles to supplement their income. This report weaves critical data, insights and expert perspectives to illuminate and help you understand Nigeria’s shadow economy. Get the report here

March 21, 2025
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21Mar

Minimum Wage Policy and the Gender Wage Gap

By Hang Anh Nguyen, Martin O'Brien & Alfredo Paloyo Minimum wage policies have become a nearly universal feature of modern labour markets, with over 90% of countries implementing statutory wage floors since 2012 (Del Carpio & Pabon, 2014). Yet, despite their widespread adoption, the economic effects of minimum wages remain highly contested. Advocates argue that they boost earnings for lowwage workers, reduce income inequality, and mitigate poverty, while critics contend that they suppress productivity, distort wage structures, and incentivise firms...

March 21, 2025
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21Mar

Assessing the Permanent Income Hypothesis in Poor Areas: The Case of Rural Pensions in Brazil

By Bruno Kawaoka Komatsu, Lucas Dias & Naercio Menezes Filho In Brazil, poor women in family agriculture are entitled to a monthly unconditional pension from the government when they turn 55, a large predictable income increase for rural families. In this paper, we use a national family expenditure survey and a fuzzy regression discontinuity design strategy to estimate the impacts of that pension on consumption, finance and labor market indicators. We show that the rural pension increases income by 50%,...

March 21, 2025
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14Mar

A roadmap to adequate retirement incomes for all

By Phoenix Insights Achieving decent, financially secure retirements for people in the UK is an essential priority for individuals, government and industry alike. Phoenix Group previously called for a holistic review of pensions adequacy, and are pleased to see the new Government’s commitment to do so in the coming months. The long standing question of ‘how much is enough’ for retirement can be complex and wide reaching one. The question will need to be answered through a collaborative approach and followed by an action plan....

March 14, 2025
Adequacy, Books, Books, Reports, , ,
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11Mar

Germany. Gender discrimination in company pension schemes: Need for action and cost risks

As is well known, the Pay Transparency Directive imposes a need for action on companies. Employee comparison groups must be established to identify potential gender pay gaps. Employees are granted extensive and highly detailed rights to information, which must also be actively communicated. Even during the recruitment process, companies must be able to provide information about their remuneration systems. Comprehensive reporting obligations apply for companies with 100 or more employees, requiring the disclosure of remuneration structures. The greater involvement...

March 11, 2025
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February 2025
26Feb

UK. U-turn shows pitfalls of unpicking pensions triple-lock

A pensions timebomb is ticking on the Isle of Man and the self-governing island off the UK's west coast came very close to defusing it last week. Like the UK, the island protects state pensions with the triple lock, which automatically increases the state pension each year by the maximum of three measures: price inflation, average earnings or 2.5%. The Isle of Man's government wanted to scrap the triple lock for some pensioners in its budget last week. But ministers were forced...

February 26, 2025
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14Feb

Pensions vs earnings across Europe: The highest and lowest comparisons

Pensions in the EU amount to some three-fifths of late-career work income. In many European countries, this rate falls below 50%, making it increasingly challenging for pensioners to maintain a decent standard of living. In many European countries, pension income is significantly lower than pre-retirement earnings from work. This makes it difficult for many older people to maintain their standard of living after retirement. Nearly one in six pensioners are at the risk-of-poverty in the EU, with the rate increasing...

February 14, 2025
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