The Social Security System’s (SSS) paying members posted a 13.6 percent decline as of May amid the economic impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic crisis.
The pension fund said in a statement yesterday it recorded over 12.3 million paying members as of May 2021, lower than the 14.2 million count in the same period of last year.
Aurora Ignacio, SSS president and chief executive officer, attributed the decline in paying members to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy that pushed some establishments to close their businesses and let go of their employees.
The latest paying member tally comprises 9.6 million employed members, accounting for 78 percent of the total. It is followed by 1.9 million voluntary paying members, 476,000 self-employed members and 333,000 overseas Filipino worker (OFW) members.
To compare, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) earlier reported that its total membership tally has breached the 40 million mark as of April 2021. About 76 percent or 30.77 million are employed members, while 5.03 million are voluntary paying members, 3.35 million are self-employed members and 1.34 million are OFWs.
“PSA data as of April 2021 showed that about 3.44 million Filipinos are jobless. It appears to hold water, particularly if we compare this with the SSS data that about 3.28 million members failed to pay their monthly contributions in 2020,” Ignacio said.
“To assist our members in this period of financial uncertainty, which affected their payment capacity, we extended contribution payment deadlines by up to five times since the start of the government-imposed lockdowns in March 2020, so they can maintain their active membership,” she added.
The SSS chief also reminded members and employers that several SSS payment channels are available for secure and convenient remittance of contributions.
They have the option to make use of over-the-counter transactions in partner banks and non-banks, internet banking, mobile facility, My.SSS account and SSS Mobile App via PayMaya and BPI Online.
Employers can also make over-the-counter SSS contribution payments through partner banks, and via internet banking through the banks’ web facility, and eGov BancNet and non-bank collecting partners.
