July 2025
23Jul

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
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21Jul

The Gig Economy’s Unstoppable Rise: How Freelancing is Reshaping Global Markets and Investment Strategies in 2025

The freelance workforce has become a cornerstone of economic resilience, with 1.57 billion independent contractors now representing 46.7% of the global labor force in 2025. This shift, driven by technological innovation and a generational redefinition of work, is not merely a trend but a structural transformation. For investors, the gig economy's rapid growth—projected to expand from $8.39 billion in 2025 to $16.89 billion by 2029 at a 19.1% annual growth rate—presents a compelling case for strategic allocation. The Forces Behind...

July 21, 2025
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18Jul

Study shows only one in four Kenyans save for retirement

A paltry 20 per cent of Kenyans save for retirement, a new study has revealed. The research by pension fund experts at Zamara Group reveals that over 60 per cent of retirees deplete their retirement savings within the first five years after leaving formal employment. Zamara Group chief executive Sundeep Raichura said most Kenyans are not saving enough to maintain their living standards in retirement. "In Kenya, the pension schemes are paid in lump-sum and people who are used to getting regular...

July 18, 2025
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10Jul

South Korea. New Proposal Seeks to Extend Employer Pension Contributions to Gig Workers

South Korea is weighing a significant pension reform that could bring platform workers — such as food delivery riders and chauffeur-for-hire drivers — under the same pension contribution scheme as regular employees, with their platforms potentially covering half of their premiums. A new report released Tuesday by the National Pension Research Institute calls for extending employer-like responsibilities to digital platforms, arguing that most platform workers operate under economically dependent conditions despite being legally classified as independent contractors. Based on a survey...

July 10, 2025
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08Jul

PensionBee: Gig workers need automatic pensions

More than a million UK gig workers are unable to save for retirement, according to fresh data from PensionBee, a leader in the consumer retirement market, prompting renewed calls for a ‘universal pension’ system to ensure every worker, regardless of income or employment status, has automatic access to a pension. The findings, launched alongside PensionBee’s Invisible Worker campaign on National Freelancers Day, highlight the challenges faced by freelancers, unpaid carers and those on zero-hours contracts who are not auto-enrolled into...

July 8, 2025
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01Jul

Ghana. Expand informal sector pension coverage – Minister charges NPRA board

The Minister of Labour, Jobs and Employment, Dr Rashid Pelpuo, has charged the governing council of the pensions regulator to expand pensions coverage to the informal sector. He said the sector held a significant share of the working population and untapped pension contributors of the country. “Innovative policies and tailored products must be developed to harness and protect the hard-earned savings of informal workers,” Dr Pelpuo said, when he swore in a 10-member board of the National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA)...

July 1, 2025
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June 2025
26Jun

India Gears Up To Launch Landmark Social Security Scheme For Gig Workers

In a major step toward formalising protection for India’s growing gig economy, the government is preparing to roll out a dedicated social security scheme for gig and platform workers under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY)—the world’s largest publicly funded health insurance program. The announcement, made as part of the Union Budget 2025, marks a watershed moment for the country’s informal workforce, which has long remained outside the ambit of structured welfare systems. PM-JAY, also known as Ayushman Bharat, was...

June 26, 2025
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13Jun

Hong Kong’s gig economy workers want industry regulated. Can city deliver?

Hong Kong food delivery rider John Lam* cannot afford to make a single mistake while working. The 40-year-old takes extreme care while delivering orders on his motorcycle, knowing that if he has a work-related accident he will receive few employment benefits and minimal compensation. “I understand that being highly responsive to my phone can lead to more orders. But for safety reasons, I only handle my phone when my vehicle has completely stopped,” said Lam, who delivers food for the city’s...

June 13, 2025
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06Jun

The Future of Financial Inclusion: Fintech, Microfinance, and Alternative Banking Models

By Selina Zhan Financial literacy refers to the ability to make informed financial decisions through acquiring relevant knowledge and skills such as investing, budgeting, and asset management. Individual financial literacy is crucial as many governments around the world are unreliable when it comes to providing adequate and stable financial support to their civilians. Additionally, as institutions become more and more exclusive with their increasingly complex products, the need for financial literacy grows, especially as the cost of retirement rises each...

June 6, 2025
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May 2025
30May

The Early Retirement Gap: Does Job Satisfaction Matter Less for the Self-Employed?

By Raquel Justo, Adrian Merida & Juan A. Sanchis-Llopis Understanding the drivers of early retirement is increasingly important in the context of aging populations and growing concerns over pension sustainability. While extensive research has examined the retirement behavior of paid employees, the self-employed, who operate under distinct work arrangements and institutional contexts, remain comparatively understudied. This work examines whether job satisfaction influences actual retirement behavior differently for self-employed individuals and paid employees. Leveraging longitudinal data from the Survey of Health, Ageing...

May 30, 2025
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