‘Social security subscriptions now encompass 64% of workforce’

AMMAN — The total number of those insured by the Social Security Corporation (SSC) has reached 1,292,000, constituting 64 per cent of the Kingdom’s manpower, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported on Monday.

Delivering a lecture at the Amman College for Financial and Managerial Science, SSC Spokesperson Musa Sbeihi said that the subscriptions protect the community, adding that retirement salaries contribute to reducing poverty in the Kingdom by 7.7 per cent.

He also said that the poverty rate would increase from 14.4 per cent to 22.1 per cent if retirement income was excluded from individuals’ current incomes.

Meanwhile, he called for supporting the insurance system, highlighting the role of the SSC in achieving equality and social integration, in addition to boosting socioeconomic development.

Sbeihi added that social security covers workers at all institutions and sectors, regardless of how many employees a company has, adding that the SSC does not recommend early retirement, which can have a negative impact on the salary of the retired.

He also said that the SSC’s 2017 subscription surplus amounted to JD590 million, while current expenses, including retirement salaries, are JD92 million per month.