Thousands Unregistered with Social Security Board: Disparity Revealed in Labor Force Data

There are almost eighty thousand Belizeans in the labor force not registered under the Social Security Board’s scheme. With the recent data coming out of the Statistical Institute of Belize (SIB) a big disparity has been noted when you compare the total employed persons across the country, and the number of registered contributors to the SSB scheme.  According to SIB, the country’s labor force currently stands around 190 thousand, which means there are an estimated eight thousand workers who are not making contributions to social security.  The Board’s CEO, Deborah Ruiz, spoke about the need to recruit the workers and ensure that they capitalize on the many benefits offered under the scheme. 

Deborah Ruiz, CEO, Social Security Board: “Yes, that is part of the conversation that will be happening in terms of the self employment program. We will need to redesign that program to make it more attractive for persons who are working independently or on their own to want to cover and manage the risk for their social protection needs.”

Ruiz noted that the board is also looking forward to working with the government in several other areas of national development.