Georgetown : Even as the 2010 Annual Report for the National Insurance Scheme documents that its expenditure is bordering closely on revenue and the reserves run the risk of being completely depleted, it also points out that those new employees joining the scheme have plummeted over the previous year with no clear indicator that there was a reversal last year. The number of employees (16-59) that registered to the scheme in 2010, plummeted by more than 10 per cent over the previous year.
Some 12,213 persons in that category were signed onto the scheme in 2009 as against a shortfall of 1,319 bringing the figure for 2010 to 10,011.
There were some 357 employers registered with the Scheme during 2010 and of this amount, 328 or approximately 92 per cent were small-scale employers; that is to mean that each employed no more than 10 persons.
Twenty six (26) or approximately seven per cent of those employers employed between 11 and 50 persons while three (3) or approximately one per cent employed between 51 and 100 persons. No employer who employed over 100 persons was registered to the Scheme in 2010. A total of 11,041 employed persons were registered during 2010 and of this total, 6,038 or approximately 55 per cent were males and 5,003 or approximately 45 per cent were females.
An analysis by marital status reveals that 9,626 or approximately 87 per cent of the new registrants were single, 751 or approximately seven per cent were married and the remaining 664 or approximately six per cent were either widowed, divorced, separated or in common-law relationships.
An analysis by age shows that 103 of the registrants were under 16 years, 10,911 were between the ages of 16 years and 59 years, and 27 were 60 years and older.
Of the 10,911 registrants between the ages of 16 years and 59 years, 5,966 or approximately 55 per cent were males and 4,945 or approximately 45 per cent were females.
The average age of those that were employed and came into the scheme’s database was 23, meaning that the majority are expected to continue to make contributions to the scheme for another 22 years.
As it relates to 2009, 489 employers registered with the Scheme meaning there was a shortfall the subsequent year by 27 per cent. The total number of employers registered with the Scheme as at the end of 2010 was 26,749. The number of active employers was approximately 4,167.
