August 2025
05Aug

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
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July 2025
30Jul

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
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29Jul

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
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28Jul

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
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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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