Professor Denise Eldermire Shearer at the Department of Community Health and Psychiatry.

Director of the Mona Ageing and Wellness Centre, Professor Denise Eldemire-Shearer, has called for pension contributions by Jamaicans to be made compulsory.

She made the call in light of statistics which indicate that while Jamaicans are living longer, most persons have made no plans for their financial security during their retirement years.

“Today’s older person has changed and will live at least 20 to 25 years after retirement and will need the financial assistance that a pension provides,” she said.

Professor Eldemire-Shearer’s comments came at the National Council for Senior Citizens’ (NCSC) Ageing Conference on June 25 at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston under the theme: ‘Ageing and Development – Ensuring an Enabling and Supportive Environment’.

In presenting the findings of a 2012 study titled Solid Start Ageing in Jamaica, Prof Eldemire-Shearer noted that 60 per cent of the persons surveyed did not have pensions and never contributed to the National Insurance Scheme (NIS).

The findings, she said, are in keeping with a 1995 study done by the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ).

“Only a third of the 2,800 persons that we interviewed said they had thought about pension as part of their retirement plan, and another 38 per cent did not answer. Nothing has changed. The same thing is happening for the 40-60 years age group and unless we do something about pension contribution, your grandchildren will be having the same discussion,” she argued.

The survey also found that the largest increase in the ageing group was among females over 80, most of whom had no pension, were single and had poor housing and poor health.

“We are exploding in terms of the numbers of older people at a time when the younger people are decreasing … which means those of us who could bank on having five, six children to look after us, that luxury is not there for coming generations,” Prof Eldemire-Shearer pointed out.

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