SSS wants to cover more informal sector workers

THE state-run Social Security System (SSS) wants to include workers in the informal sector in its pension coverage as part of a plan to improve the system.

There were only 108,779 members from the informal sector as of end-September, according to SSS data. Meanwhile, 44,093 members were registered through the Cooperative Accreditation Program and 230,069 members were covered as job order personnel of government offices, the pension fund said in a staement on Thursday.

“For many years now, we have been reaching out to them, strongly encouraging them to pay their SSS which is the cheapest and most accessible retirement savings today,” SSS President and Chief Executive Officer Aurora C. Ignacio said in a statement.

But their varied work arrangements and intermittent income have prevent them from regularly paying SSS premiums, she added.

“A challenge for us now is to create a special pension fund program for informal sector workers like farmers, fisherfolks, among other groups, considering their income spread,” Ms. Ignacio said. — Beatrice M. Laforga