A themed issue of the ISSA quarterly International Social Security Review  was released on 1 April on “Social security and the  crisis”. The publication provides deeper analysis of the immediate negative impacts of recent global events on the financial health of social security and pension funds.  

As the Review’s articles report, for social security systems, the recent period has proved to be a double-edged sword. The crisis has boosted social security’s status, not least in fashioning its role as a “social buffer and economic stabilizer”. But the crisis has also underlined that increased social spending on benefits, especially when this accompanies reduced income from contributions and investments, has reduced the latitude for  maintaining levels of social spending required in the future.

The regularly-updated social security crisis "In Focus" section  on the ISSA Website includes news, analysis and multiple resources on institutional responses to the crisis ( www.issa.int/financialcrisis). New additions include  snapshots on specific country situations, in-depth articles and video  interviews with experts. The full results of the ISSA survey on social  security in times of crisis, initiated in 2009, will soon be available.

FURTHER INFORMATION

International Social Security Review , Vol. 63, No. 2 (available  in English in April, and in French, German and Spanish in May 2010).  Further information, abstracts and subscriptions: www.issa.int/review