Africa-Press – Angola. The Secretary of State for Labor and Social Security, Pedro Filipe, said, Wednesday (9), in Luanda, that the unemployment benefit is a concern of the Executive, but declared that it is not yet possible to implement it in the country, because the Mandatory Social Protection System depends exclusively on contributions from workers and employers, as well as on investments made.
Pedro Filipe, who was speaking during a meeting with journalists at the Ministry of Public Administration, Labor and Social Security (MAPTSS), clarified that, contrary to what happens in other countries, where the National Institute of Social Security also depends on the ordinary revenues of the Treasury, in Angola the Mandatory Social Protection System survives only on what it harvests.
The country, he said, has around two million workers enrolled in the contributory base, but the workforce that operates in the labor market, according to data from the National Statistics Institute (INE), is over ten million citizens. These data, he concluded, presuppose that the country has more than eight million workers who produce, but who are outside the Compulsory Social System.
“If we have to go ahead with the unemployment benefit, the only possible ways will be to increase the social security contribution rate, which is the lowest in the world, with three percent for workers and eight percent for the employer,” he said. .
Another alternative pointed out by the Secretary of State is the use of other recipes, but, he stressed, it is not yet sustainable at the moment.
He also pointed out another path: that of bringing the active force that is in the informal market in order to broaden the base and allow the institutionalization of unemployment benefits.
Taxi drivers can contribute to Social Security
Taxi drivers, mobile phone technicians, cold stores, street vendors, fishermen and providers of other small services, can start contributing to Social Security, through the Voluntary Social Security scheme, guaranteed the Secretary of State for Labor and Social Security.
Pedro Filipe revealed that Voluntary Social Security is a more flexible regime, compared to the existing ones, allowing citizens to easily manage their contribution to the Mandatory Social Protection.
Pedro Filipe highlighted that this measure also extends to citizens who have already had a legal bond with a company and, for whatever reason, no longer have it, but intend to continue making their contributions. He clarified that they can do so on a voluntary basis. The same can happen to Angolans residing abroad.
The Secretary of State said that a campaign will be carried out to mobilize more citizens to join this regime. He recalled, however, that it was already launched at the end of 2020, but there have been few registrations, counting, at the moment, with only 2,761. In principle, the rate to be discounted will be based on the income of each worker, he clarified.
The Secretary of State highlighted that, in order to encourage the growth of the INSS’s Compulsory Social Protection base, with emphasis on Presidential Decree 12/22, which establishes measures to encourage the hiring of unemployed young people, including those who have lost their jobs as a result of the During the pandemic, people with disabilities and those who are promoting and voluntarily regularizing their social security debts will be exempt from paying the INSS for a period of 12 months.
On the advice of the President of the Republic, he clarified, the Diploma also withdraws the payment of 50 percent from the employer, referring to Social Security, as well as forgives interest.
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