March 2025

The End of Traditional Retirement: Building Financial Security in a Changing World

Have you ever seen your father leave for work every morning, heading to the same office, doing the same job, surrounded by the same colleagues for decades? It was a time when career paths were straightforward, stability was the norm, and retirement felt like a well-earned reward after years of dedication. Now, look at your own career—how many jobs have you switched already? Two? Three? Maybe more? And still, the future feels uncertain. Jobs that once lasted a lifetime are...

February 2025

Why a significant portion of Nigeria’s workforce remains vulnerable to old-age poverty – Aiku

Opeyemi Aiku is a seasoned investment management professional with over 19 years of experience in multi-asset portfolio management, high-net-worth advisory, pension fund oversight, and financial planning. She specialises in fixed income, equities, and alternative investments, applying her expertise in risk management, research, and strategic planning to help individuals and institutions achieve long-term financial stability and growth. As Senior Investment Manager at TotalEnergies EP Nigeria CPFA Limited, she oversees the Fixed Income & Research desk, ensuring fund portfolios align with strategic...

Bangladesh. Informal economy under stress

In the bustling lanes of Dhaka's Karwan Bazar, Rina Begum, a 42-year-old street vendor, arranges fresh vegetables on her wooden cart before sunrise. Her business-unregistered, untaxed, and absent from official GDP reports-is part of Bangladesh's informal economy, a vast network of small-scale, unregulated ventures that employ millions. Globally, the informal sector accounts for over 60 per cent of employment; in Bangladesh, it sustains 85 per cent of the workforce, from rickshaw pullers to home-based garment workers. Yet, as inflation...

India. Atal Pen­sion Yojana enrol­ments grow 29% annu­ally since 2019

The Centre’s ambi­tious Atal Pen­sion Yojana (APY), launched in 2015 to provide uni­ver­sal social secur­ity to India’s unor­gan­ised work­force, has wit­nessed a remark­able surge in enrol­ments, with five States alone account­ing for nearly half of the total sub­scribers. FOCUS. Accord­ing to the latest data presen­ted in the Lok Sabha, Uttar Pra­desh leads with 16.11 per cent of total enrol­ments, fol­lowed by Bihar (9.59 per cent), Maha­rashtra (7.96 per cent), West Bengal (7.68 per cent), and Tamil Nadu (6.69 per cent). Com­bined,...

How to unlock the potential of micro pension schemes

The informal economy plays a critical role in Kenya, contributing significantly to economic growth and vitality. Comprising diverse workers, from market traders and artisans to small-scale entrepreneurs and gig workers, this sector represents the backbone of the country's workforce. Yet, despite its significance, individuals in the economy often find themselves excluded from traditional pension arrangements. The absence of employer-provided benefits and access to formal pension schemes leaves millions vulnerable, with little to no safety net to secure their futures when they are...

January 2025

Designing Benefits for Platform Workers

By Jonathan Gruber Designing benefits for the growing platform workforce in the U.S. poses significant challenges. While platform workers need protection against unforeseen shocks, work that is often part time and spread across multiple platforms makes the traditional benefits model untenable. This paper reports the results from a survey of drivers and couriers working with Uber to help understand their benefits preferences. We find that there is a wide diversity across these workers in platform earnings, the share of platform...

December 2024

Nigeria. PenCom targets 20 million contributors under micro-pension scheme

The National Pension Commission (PenCom) is targeting inclusion of over 20 million contributors in its Micro Pension Scheme as part of its plans to overhaul and expand the commission’s landscape. The commission said the overhauling of the Micro Pension Plan (MPP) was part of a broader strategy to increase financial inclusion and extend pension coverage to more Nigerians, particularly in the informal sector. The reforms, announced by the Director General, Omolara Oloworaran, during the 2024 PenCom Media Conference in Lagos on Thursday,...

Nigeria. PenCom to remodel micro-pension scheme – DG

The Director-General of the National Pension Commission, Omolola Oloworaran, has revealed that the micro pension scheme would be remodelled to boost participation. Oloworaran said this on Thursday at the 2024 PenCom Media Conference held in Lagos. Micro pensions are specifically designed for individuals in the informal sectors. She said, “What we are doing with a micro pension is treating it a little differently from how we were doing it before. As we know, the micro pension doesn’t resonate with everyone within the...

Zimbabwe. Government urged to incentivise informal sector formalisation

ANALYSTS and other key business players have implored the Government to invest more in incentivising informal sector players to transition into formal business operations to enhance economic stability and improve tax revenues. Mr James Wadi, an economic analyst said this while giving an appraisal of the 2025 National Budget at the post–budget breakfast meeting hosted by Business Weekly in collaboration with the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) and the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion on Monday. Zimbabwean products Mr...

31% of Canadian employees rely on gig work to help cover expenses: survey

A third (31 per cent) of Canadian employees say they rely on gig work in some capacity to help cover regular expenses, according to a new survey by ADP Canada. The survey, which polled more than 1,200 employees, found among gig workers, 17 per cent said gig work is their primary source of income for covering expenses. The main industries solicited by gig workers are transportation, retail and grocery. On a scale of one to 10, workers reported an average happiness...