March 2026
10Mar

Five ‘critical forces’ reshaping global retirement systems

There are five 'critical forces' reshaping retirement systems around the world, with countries facing challenges balancing fiscal sustainability and retirement adequacy, according to a report from State Street. Its analysis identified these global forces as: demographic ageing, socioeconomic shifts (including the rise of gig working), technological disruption, rising longevity, and mounting fiscal pressures. The report highlighted that while countries had vastly different system designs, every nation was facing similar challenges and most were converging towards portable defined contribution models and flexible...

March 10, 2026
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09Mar

South Korea. Six in Ten Incheon Districts Enter Super-Aged Society

Incheon is transforming from a "young city" into a "rapidly aging city." The Incheon Social Service Agency released results of its 6th Community Welfare Survey on the 9th, warning that demand for care, medical services, and mobility support could surge within the next five to ten years. Incheon's elderly dependency ratio growth rate stands at 38.4%, which is 5.6 percentage points higher than the national average of 32.8%. Six of the city's ten districts have already entered super-aged society status:...

March 9, 2026
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06Mar

The Real Fertility Crisis 2025: The pursuit of reproductive agency in a changing world

By UNFPA Millions of people around the world are unable to have the number of children they want – whether they want more, fewer, or none at all. Recently, fertility declines are making headlines, with women all too often blamed for these demographic shifts. Some governments are employing drastic measures to incentivize young people to make fertility decisions in line with national targets. But the real crisis is that the most consequential reproductive decision a human being can make – when, whether...

March 6, 2026
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06Mar

The Impact of Pension System Reforms on Elderly Labor Force Participation: A Comparative Study of Germany, the United States, and Brazil

By Amos Kupaza Objective: This study provides the first harmonized, micro‑level comparative analysis of pension reform effects on elderly labor force participation in three paradigmatic welfare regimes: Germany (coordinated market economy, conservative‑corporatist welfare), the United States (liberal market economy, liberal welfare), and Brazil (dualistic economy, conservative‑informal welfare). We test the institutional mediation hypothesis: that reform effects are systematically shaped by labor market structures, social protection arrangements, and production regimes. Methods: We employ harmonized microdata from IPUMS-CPS (USA) and IPUMS-International (Germany, Brazil) , comprising 495,000 person‑year observations spanning 2000–2023....

March 6, 2026
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04Mar

How South Korea nudged its birth rate back up – and what Singapore can learn

As Singapore's birth rate hits a historic low, South Korea's modest but notable rebound offers a ray of hope and possible lessons, experts said. Singapore's total fertility rate (TFR) fell to 0.87 in 2025, parliament was told on Thursday (Feb 26), continuing a slide that first pushed the country below 1.0 in 2023. A TFR below one means the average woman has less than one child in her lifetime – far below the 2.1 replacement rate needed to keep the population from...

March 4, 2026
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02Mar

Europe must close the rights gap for migrants and asylum seekers with disabilities

Migrants and asylum seekers with disabilities continue to face systemic exclusion from protection, support, and integration systems across the European Union, despite the EU’s human rights obligations. In response, IRAP and EDF have jointly launched a new policy brief, “A Pact That Excludes: Closing the Protection Gap for Migrants and Asylum Seekers with Disabilities in the European Union,” showing that EU migration and asylum systems remain largely inaccessible and discriminatory for people with disabilities. This briefing analyses the EU Pact on Migration and...

March 2, 2026
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February 2026
20Feb

Impact of iImmigration on the Japanese Economy: A Multi-Country Simulation Model

By Manabu Shimasawa To quantify the impacts of immigration and fiscal reconstruction on the Japanese economy, we present a dynamic computable general equilibrium OLG model with an overlapping generations structure. We use a total of 16 countries and regions, both including those that are industrialized, such as Japan, the US, and the EU, and developing countries, such as China, Brazil, the Philippines, and Peru. Our simulation results show that a permanent immigration flows of 150,000 will improve the Japanese economy and...

February 20, 2026
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16Feb

US. 1/3 Withdraw 401(k) Balances After Job Changes—What Is Driving This Trend?

Retirement savers are generally putting more into their 401(k) accounts these days, but much of the money Americans are saving for their future doesn’t end up lasting until then. That's because a large portion of employees withdraw their 401(k) balance in a lump sum when they leave a job, rather than rolling it over to their new employer or into another account, or leaving their balance where it is. One-third of those who have Vanguard-administered 401(k) plans and left a job did this, according to...

February 16, 2026
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13Feb

Underpaid and under pressure: The eldercare workforce leading the US’s job growth

The U.S. added 130,000 jobs in January, according to federal data released this week. But a closer look shows that the lion's share of this growth came from one specific task: caring for older Americans. Grouped under the formal categories of "social assistance" and "healthcare," at-home care services, hospitals and long-term care facilities added 124,000 positions. Much of this expansion was among the tens of thousands of aides and assistants who help elderly and disabled people bathe, dress, eat and manage...

February 13, 2026
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13Feb

Lufthansa Strike Puts Pension Dispute And Long Term Profitability In Focus

Find winning stocks in any market cycle. Join 7 million investors using Simply Wall St's investing ideas for FREE. Deutsche Lufthansa (XTRA:LHA) is facing a coordinated 24 hour strike by pilots and cabin crew. The walkout is set to affect departures across all German airports. The dispute centers on retirement and pension funding, with management citing limited financial flexibility. The action is expected to disrupt passenger travel and Lufthansa's near term operations. For you as an investor, this strike sits at...

February 13, 2026
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