SSS collections up 10% in 10 months

MANILA, Philippines - Contributions to the Social Security System (SSS) rose by more than a tenth in  the first three quarters of the year driven by growth across all member segments.

In a statement last Friday, the state-run pension fund said nine-month member contributions went up by 10.37 percent to P98.26 billion.

Growth was recorded across all four major segments -- regular employees, self-employed individuals, voluntary members and overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), said Eleonora Cinco, SSS officer-in-charge of management services and planning. The SSS has 33.33 million registered members. 

“The growths in the self-employed, voluntary members and OFW collections are encouraging for these are sectors that are much harder to cover as compared with the employee segment,” Cinco said.

Broken down, employed members, which accounted for 70 percent of the fund’s total members, contributed P85.5 billion from January to September. This was 10.54 percent higher year-on-year from P77.35 billion.

Employers with “large accounts,” or those which employ at least 100 individuals, comprised about two-thirds of total employee collections. They chipped in P57.35 billion.

Under SSS regulations, the contribution rate is pegged at 11 percent of an individual’s monthly salary not exceeding P16,000. The rate is shared between the employer and the employee at 7.37 percent and 3.63 percent, respectively.