Sanya Goffe, president of the Pension Industry Association (PIAJ), explains that after 40 years of work, the most vulnerable can become dependent on social protection programs or the kindness of friends and family. “Jamaica’s changing demographic structure, low pension coverage and rising old-age dependency ratio put an increasing portion of the population at risk of old-age poverty and expose the Government to future crisis prosecutor,” says Goffe. The PIAJ believes that one of the tools to address this problem is to automatically enroll all employed people, who do not currently participate in a pension plan, in any of the 13 approved retirement plans. According to Goffe, since private sector pension coverage in Jamaica is currently between 9% and 11%, automatic enrolment could be a game changer for the country. With low pension coverage and an aging population, the PIAJ believes that now is the time for the government to act. For this reason, the PIAJ embarked on an intense public participation program to present its automatic registration proposal during this year and met with a wide cross-section of interest groups, and the next step is to meet with the Ministry of Finance. to further explore the proposal.

The concept paper presented by PIAJ aims to provide all working Jamaicans with easier access to pension coverage through automatic enrolment and a reliable source of income after retirement. “PIAJ is excited about the impact this proposal could have in improving retirement security for more Jamaicans and stands ready to work with the Government to take this initiative forward,” says Goffe.

Source: Jamaica Observer

Date: October 2022