Informal Sector Archives - Page 4 of 30 - Pension Policy International

20AugAugust 20, 2025

Financial inclusion, mobile money and the rural, informal economy

FINTECH has revolutionalised banking activities globally over the past one decade so tremendously in both scale and scope. In developing countries, it has brought banking within the reach of many hitherto disadvantaged cohorts of the populace, thus drawing them into the ever-widening circle of those having access to banking operations. It has also contributed significantly to wealth creation within the underprivileged populace, providing regular incomes and access to credit in many instances. Africa has opened up and started to...

August 20, 2025

NewsAfrica, Fintech, Informal Sector

19AugAugust 19, 2025

US. New Portable Benefits Bill Aims To Help Gig Workers, But Worker Classification Still Matters

Senator Bill Cassidy (R- IL) uncovered the Unlocking Benefits for Independent Workers Act to prevent gig worker misclassification. Under this legislation, companies will be able to voluntarily offer portable benefits without employing gig workers and having to pay for unemployment insurance, overtime pay, and workers' compensation. For some time, there has been a disagreement between labor advocates and large companies like Uber or Lyft over portable benefits. Gig workers have been advocating for worker protections, while larger companies have fought back, deeming them...

August 19, 2025

NewsInformal Sector, Social Security, US

19AugAugust 19, 2025

Life Behind the Cart in Sierra Leone’s Informal Sector

On any given day, through the dusty or muddy streets of Shell New Road, Freetown, you’ll find Hassan Sesay, 43, pushing his heavy cart, navigating potholes and broken roads, hustling to deliver goods that don’t even belong to him but upon which his entire livelihood depends. Sesay was born along Lunsar Road in Makeni to a builder father and a trader mother. Life was hard. His parents could not afford to send him to school, and his childhood dream of...

August 19, 2025

NewsInformal Sector, Sierra Leone, Social Security

12AugAugust 12, 2025

Ghana. Pensions Regulatory Authority urges churches to own tier three pensions, register members

Dr Williams Ohene-Adjei, the Bono, Bono East, and Ahafo Regional Manager of the National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA), urged churches to own the Tier Three Pension and register their congregations under the scheme to guarantee their future financial security. He explained that every individual working in the informal sector could register, join, contribute to and benefit from the tier three pension scheme. He asked the churches to set aside some of the dues paid by members and contribute to the pension...

August 12, 2025

NewsGhana, Informal Sector, savings

05AugAugust 5, 2025

UK. Workplace Pension Stats Show Case to Boost “Invisible Worker” Pensions : PensionBee

UK’s online pension provider PensionBee noted that the Department for Work and Pensions has this morning published annual statistics on workplace pension participation and savings trends: 2009 to 2024. PensionBee also mentioned that the statistics showed that rates of “participation in Auto Enrolment have remained stable in recent years, along with stopping savings levels and contribution levels.” Nine-in-ten eligible employees, “21.7 million people, are saving into a workplace scheme, according to the DWP, while eight-in-ten of all employees are saving into a scheme, or 23.3 million workers.” The freezing...

August 5, 2025

NewsInformal Sector, savings, UK

05AugAugust 5, 2025

US. Republicans want to give Uber workers benefits. There’s a catch.

Should independent contractors get employment benefits? The question has fueled decades of legal and political battles — and it might finally be coming to an end for the roughly 58 million people who currently work as freelancers, contractors and gig workers across America. Three Republican senators — led by Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who chairs the chamber’s Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee — have introduced bills to expand benefits like health insurance and retirement savings for contractors. The legislation...

August 5, 2025

NewsInformal Sector, Social Security, US

30JulJuly 30, 2025

Mexico’s Informal Employment Crisis Deepens as 850,000 New Jobs Lack Contracts

Mexico’s labor market delivered seemingly positive news in early 2025: a surge of approximately 850,000 new jobs created in the first half of the year. Yet, beneath this headline figure lies a deepening crisis of Mexico informal employment. New data from Mexico’s National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI, July 2025) reveals that nearly all these new positions lack formal contracts, social security, or legal protections, pushing the country’s informal workforce to a record high of 54.9%. This precarious...

July 30, 2025

NewsInformal Sector, Labor Market, Mexico

29JulJuly 29, 2025

Ghana’s Social Security @ 60: Vice President urges broader coverage for informal sector

Vice President Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang has called on the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) to extend pension coverage to informal sector workers and the self-employed. Speaking, Monday, at the launch of the 60th Anniversary Celebration of the inception of a national social security scheme in Ghana, the Vice President commended stakeholders for its transformation from a provident fund, in 1965, into a three-tier pension scheme. She, however, urged management and staff to do more to ensure inclusivity. The Vice...

July 29, 2025

NewsCoverage, Ghana, Informal Sector

28JulJuly 28, 2025

SSC: Voluntary Subscription Enables Over 68,000 Jordanians to Receive Retirement and Disability Benefits

The Social Security Corporation (SSC) announced in a press release issued by its media center that more than 68,000 Jordanians have been able to access retirement and disability pensions through voluntary subscription to the social security system. The Corporation revealed that the number of currently active voluntary subscribers has reached approximately 108,000, urging Jordanians who are not subject to mandatory coverage—including Jordanian expatriates working abroad and Jordanian housewives—to enroll voluntarily in order to secure a comprehensive safety net that provides...

July 28, 2025

NewsInformal Sector, Voluntary pensions

23JulJuly 23, 2025

Atal Pension Yojana and India’s Social Security Ambitions

In a country where nearly 90% of the workforce belongs to the unorganised sector, securing a dignified life post-retirement has long been a challenge. Most daily wage workers, small business owners, and informal employees do not have access to pensions, gratuity, or provident fund mechanisms that salaried employees in the formal sector enjoy. Recognising this enormous gap in social protection, the Government of India launched the Atal Pension Yojana (APY) in 2015, aiming to democratize retirement benefits for the underserved. What began...

July 23, 2025

NewsIndia, Informal Sector

August 2025

July 2025