Jobs that call for early pension

Many people find the work they are doing arduous but some jobs are clearly more arduous than others. NSSA recognises the justification for early retirement for people employed in only certain categories of arduous employment.
The early retirement age for a NSSA retirement benefit is 55 but only if the employee has been working for seven of the previous 10 years in a job classified for this purpose as an arduous occupation.

There are five sectors in which NSSA has identified jobs that qualify as arduous occupations. These are transport, forestry, quarrying, mining and agriculture.

All agricultural work is considered arduous. Work in quarries is also considered arduous. Within the transport sector, heavy truck driving is considered arduous.

Within the other sectors specific jobs have been classified as arduous. Within forestry a chain saw operator, a jack operator, a jig- saw operator, a DT operator, a timber loader, a cross cut saw operator and a stumper are all considered to be engaged in an arduous occupation.
Underground mining operations such as lashing, tramping, grizzly operations, rigging and employment in hot areas such as those near coke ovens and smelters are arduous occupations.

When it comes to surface operations, smelter furnaces refining operations, kettle attendance and trapping are listed as arduous occupations.

Most people would probably agree that all these jobs are arduous. They all involve heavy manual work. No doubt there are many other jobs that those working in them consider are arduous, some of which may involve heavy manual work and some of which may not involve any manual work but may be considered arduous in one way or another by those employed in them.

However, a line has to be drawn somewhere. Sometimes whether a job is arduous or not may depend on the subjective view of the person engaged in it. Some may find a job arduous and others doing the same job may not consider it arduous at all or certainly not comparable to the jobs NSSA has classified as arduous for the purpose of early retirement.

One person wrote that she had been doing typing work for 27 years, 11 of them on a typewriter and then 16 years on a computer.
“I find this very tiresome and health damaging, especially in respect of the muscles and development of arthritis of the neck. I feel there should be job enrichment instead of sitting in one position for eight hours every day for 27 years.

“Does this job not fall under arduous jobs? Imagine if you are supposed to retire at 60? I need a response on how NSSA treats the job of a typist or data capture clerk?” she wrote.

While one sympathises with the lady and can understand why she considers her job arduous, similar arguments could be put forward by any number of people who spend long hours working on a computer, operating a check-out till in a supermarket or doing many other jobs that in one way or another could be considered arduous from varying perspectives.

The normal retirement age is 60. The early retirement age of 55 is applicable only to a limited number of people doing the particularly arduous jobs that NSSA has categorised as such for retirement benefit purposes. These jobs do not include typing or computer data capture. As has been pointed out in this column before, taking early retirement may not necessarily be beneficial.

Those able to continue working and contributing to the national pension fund for as long as possible may find doing so is beneficial, since the size of one’s retirement benefit depends on one’s contribution period and insurable earnings at retirement.

Those still below the latest pensionable retirement age of 65 who retired while earning more than US$200 per month but making national pension scheme contributions based on the previous maximum insurable earnings level of US$200 per month may now be regretting retiring when they did, since in June this year the maximum insurable earnings level went up to US$700 a month.

That means that had they retired now, rather than when they did, their pension, if they contributed to the pension scheme for at least 120 months, would have been calculated on the basis of the higher insurable earnings of whatever their actual earnings were, up to the new maximum insurable earnings level of US$700 per month.

So while the lady who has been typing for 26 years would dearly like to retire at 55 rather than 60, she may find that continuing working up until age 60 or even 65 may be beneficial in terms of the size of her retirement benefit, since not only will she have increased her contribution period but it is always possible that, should she be earning by then more than US$700 per month, the insurable earnings limit may have been raised further by then, though there is no guarantee that this will happen.

If that is the case then she will receive a better pension than she would if she were to retire at 55, which is not possible for her anyway, as far as being eligible for a pension at that age is concerned.
Talking Social Security is published weekly by the National Social Security Authority as a public service. There is also a weekly radio programme, PaMhepo neNssa/Emoyeni leNSSA, discussing social security issues at 6.50pm every Thursday on Radio Zimbabwe and every Friday on National FM. There is another social security programme on Star FM on Wednesdays at 5.30pm. Readers can email issues they would like dealt with in this column to [email protected] or text them to 0772307913. Those with individual queries should contact their local NSSA office or telephone NSSA on (04) 706517-8 or 7065235.