Articles

December 2009

1. 

   Social security: Responding to the crisis

   01 December 2009

   The financial and economic crisis that began in 2007 has delivered a tumultuous two years for the financial world, sending many financial institutions into a tailspin and putting governments in difficulty. As one might expect with such an extensive crisis, social security systems have also been affected, and social security funds have suffered. A large number of these schemes witnessed a sharp contraction of their asset portfolio values in 2008, affecting their long-term sustainability. Nevertheless, social security systems have responded effectively to the test by softening the impact of the crisis. The challenge for social security now is to continue to cope with rising unemployment and the burden of future debt. Ian Orton, working for the International Social Security Association’s (ISSA) Social Security Observatory, looks at the impact of the crisis on social security.