The Director-General of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), Kwasi Afreh Biney, has warned that any rushed decision to raise Ghana’s retirement age could delay employment opportunities for young people by up to seven years, arguing that the debate goes far beyond improvements in life expectancy.
Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express amid growing discussions about whether Ghanaians should be allowed to work longer before accessing pension benefits, Biney acknowledged that demographic shifts had strengthened the case for extending the retirement age, but said other factors could not be ignored.
“I agree that the demographic numbers have shifted rapidly. A lot more people today in Ghana are living longer, are much stronger even after 60. But a decision to extend retirement goes beyond just that. You need to consider factors like your employment rate, unemployment numbers, and availability of jobs,” he said.
He warned that keeping older workers in employment longer could create a significant backlog for young Ghanaians seeking to enter the workforce.
“How do we just weigh that against probably creating another backlog of five to seven years on unemployed youth who could have come into the employment bracket?” he asked.
Biney also noted that while extending the retirement age would reduce immediate pension payouts and increase contribution inflows, benefiting the pension fund, those financial gains had to be weighed carefully against the impact on the labour market.
He stressed that any decision on the retirement age should only be made after broad national consultation, rather than being driven by any single institution.
“We all need to go and sit together as stakeholders, brainstorm, deliberate, and ultimately come to the point where we all make a decision, rather than an individual institution like SSNIT deciding, ‘guys, let’s run,'” he said.
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