No description available.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--McMaster University, 2003. / Advisor: William M. Scarth. Includes bibliographical references. Also available via World Wide Web.

The research set out to explore the nature of challenges in distribution of old age pensions in Lesotho. Poor institutional capacity failed the implementing agency, the Department of Pensions; to set up competent administrative structures to run run the pensions effectively and efficiently. A number of challenges have been identified, some of which were: inadequate supervision of the paying officers, fraud by workers and community agents, missing funds, insufficient resources, inadequate administrative capacity, overworked employees, faulty targeting, soft and discriminatory approach to non-compliance with rules and multiple use of identity documents by recipients. On the other hand, a number of opportunities have been identified to counteract the challenges. The main recommendation of the study was the engagement of mobile phone-based money transfer facilities to transfer the old age pensions from the government to the recipients. The Department of Pensions should make use of baseline database like information from civil registration agency like the Ministry of Home Affairs to confirm the validity of the pension recipients. Other recommendations included moving the division of old age pensions from the Pensions Department to the Ministry of Social Development which is the controlling body for other forms of social grants in Lesotho. The Ministry of Social Development is regarded as well equipped with qualified staff and facilities to deal with vulnerable people like the elderly.

No description available.

The relationship between mobility of vested plan participants and the use of reciprocity agreements in multiemployer plans was investigated. The assumption that pension benefit forfeiture retards worker mobility was considered. The assumption that worker mobility is enhanced by benefit preservation is one of the justifications for tax incentives provided retirement plans. Several variables were considered in addition to the use or nonuse of reciprocity agreements; however, none of the variables were found to be significantly related to the turnover rate for vested plan participants in multiemployer plans. The primary conclusion of the research was that the hypothesis that benefit preservation through the use of reciprocity agreements in multiemployer plans is ineffective in increasing turnover for vested plan participants could not be rejected. / Ph. D.

published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

Gendered poverty among the elderly is a statistical fact. Previous studies have identified inequitable treatment of women and insufficient income for unattached elderly women among the most serious shortcomings of the retirement income system. Despite pension reform over the past decade, the gender gap has widened for elderly Canadians whose incomes fall below the poverty line. This thesis seeks to understand the relationship between the laws that govern Canada's retirement income system and the over-representation of elderly women among Canada's poor, and to explore why the retirement income system continues to deliver benefits in a manner that, though expressed in gender neutral language, is systemically unfair to women. The benefits of Canada's retirement income system may be accessed through workforce participation and, in a more limited way, through a spousal relationship. Familial ideology is used as the theoretical framework to examine the role of the laws that govern access to benefits in reinforcing and perpetuating assumptions about women that undermine their economic autonomy. This examination reveals that gendered economic inequality is embedded within Canada's retirement income system because it accepts the social and economic construction implicit in familial ideology of women as economically subordinate to, and dependent upon, men. The relationship between gender inequality and the two modes of delivery of retirement income benefits, during retirement as pension benefits and prior to retirement as tax subsidies that enhance taxpayers' opportunities to accumulate retirement savings, is also explored. A tax expenditure analysis exposes the bias against the economically disadvantaged (mostly women) inherent in delivering benefits as tax subsidies. Additionally, familial, public/private and restructuring ideologies are used as methodological tools to interrogate the reform process which, although ignoring gender issues, paradoxically deepened and compounded the systemic inequalities for women that existed prior to reform. The thesis concludes by offering suggestions for developing a progressive agenda for advancing gender equality within the retirement income system. The limitations of legal action as a strategy for implementing this type of agenda are discussed, and political action is designated as the most promising strategy for achieving progressive reform.

La tesi té per objecte l'estudi dels elements configuradors de la prestació de jubilació en la seva modalitat contributiva, és a dir, l'edat pensionable (o edat d'accés a la pensió de jubilació) i el cessament voluntari de l'activitat professional, posant-se de manifest com les diferents reformes aprovades sobre el sistema de Seguretat Social i, en especial, sobre el sistema de jubilació a partir de la dècada dels anys 80 han anat desconfigurant aquesta prestació.En aquest sentit en la Tesi es fa una crítica àmpliament fonamentada i raonada de l'ús abusiu que s'ha fet i que es fa de les diferents modalitats de jubilació anticipada, ja que no solament no han servit per a facilitar l'anomenat "relleu intergeneracional", sinó que, al contrari, són un seriós obstacle per a fer front al fenomen de l'envelliment demogràfic, la manifestació més directa del qual constitueix el canvi en l'estructura de la població per edats derivat de l'important descens de les taxes de natalitat i fertilitat conjuntament amb el corresponent augment dels índexs de longevitat, fenomen aquest que està provocant una profunda transformació de la piràmide demogràfica.Així, es realitza un anàlisi crític de l'ús de la jubilació com si es tractés d'una mesura de política d'ocupació, ja que es produeix una important fallida de la voluntarietat com a element característic del cessament, mitjançant, entre d'altres mesures, la jubilació forçosa i molt especialment, per que està donant lloc a una expulsió anticipada del mercat de treball a nombrosos treballadors encara aptes pel treball que ateses les importants dificultats d'ocupació de les persones de edat avançada es veuen obligades a mantenir-se com a inactives durant molt de temps, en la majoria dels casos en contra del que és la seva voluntat.En front a aquest panorama en la Tesi es proposa reforçar aquests dos elements configuradors de la prestació de jubilació, restringint al màxim l'ús de la jubilació anticipada, efectuant majors controls de la mateixa per a que només sigui utilitzada per empreses que realment ho necessiten, de forma limitada en el temps, i dotant de major flexibilitat a l'edat de jubilació mitjançant el reforçament del seu caràcter de dret al descans i atribuint-ne una major eficàcia a la voluntarietat de aquest dret del treballador.També s'aborda l'examen d'altres qüestions, entre d'altres, referides al funcionament intern de aquesta prestació; el tractament diferenciat establert en els diferents règims de Seguretat Social; el seu càlcul; així com un examen de les fonts estatals e internacionals de regulació de aquesta matèria amb una significativa incidència respecte a la necessitat de realitzar una lectura conjunta dels arts. 41 i 50 de la Constitució espanyola de 1978 i a la complexa aplicació del Reglament de la Unió Europea, Reglament CEE/ 1408/1971 pel reconeixement i càlcul de la prestació de jubilació en el cas de cotitzacions a diversos Estats de la Unió Europea.

Gendered poverty among the elderly is a statistical fact. Previous studies have identified inequitable treatment of women and insufficient income for unattached elderly women among the most serious shortcomings of the retirement income system. Despite pension reform over the past decade, the gender gap has widened for elderly Canadians whose incomes fall below the poverty line. This thesis seeks to understand the relationship between the laws that govern Canada's retirement income system and the over-representation of elderly women among Canada's poor, and to explore why the retirement income system continues to deliver benefits in a manner that, though expressed in gender neutral language, is systemically unfair to women. The benefits of Canada's retirement income system may be accessed through workforce participation and, in a more limited way, through a spousal relationship. Familial ideology is used as the theoretical framework to examine the role of the laws that govern access to benefits in reinforcing and perpetuating assumptions about women that undermine their economic autonomy. This examination reveals that gendered economic inequality is embedded within Canada's retirement income system because it accepts the social and economic construction implicit in familial ideology of women as economically subordinate to, and dependent upon, men. The relationship between gender inequality and the two modes of delivery of retirement income benefits, during retirement as pension benefits and prior to retirement as tax subsidies that enhance taxpayers' opportunities to accumulate retirement savings, is also explored. A tax expenditure analysis exposes the bias against the economically disadvantaged (mostly women) inherent in delivering benefits as tax subsidies. Additionally, familial, public/private and restructuring ideologies are used as methodological tools to interrogate the reform process which, although ignoring gender issues, paradoxically deepened and compounded the systemic inequalities for women that existed prior to reform. The thesis concludes by offering suggestions for developing a progressive agenda for advancing gender equality within the retirement income system. The limitations of legal action as a strategy for implementing this type of agenda are discussed, and political action is designated as the most promising strategy for achieving progressive reform. / Law, Peter A. Allard School of / Graduate