More than 240 thousand people were disenrolled from social security due to the pandemic

This deficit worries the authorities because they would lack resources to attend to insurance such as old age.

In three months of the coronavirus pandemic, 240 108 people stopped contributing to the Ecuadorian Social Security Institute (IESS).

The IESS reported that in March 18 586 people disenrolled, in April 111,700 and in May 109,822. Young people are the ones who left the system the most.

The Chambers of Production had already alerted to this situation. In May, they estimated that they were 150,000 and by June 10 they rose to 200,000.

For the IESS, these figures are more than expected and exceed what the institution lost in two years, when between 2014 and 2016 it went from having 3 015 312 contributors in Compulsory General Insurance to 2 846 365.

The last statistical bulletin, presented in 2019 with data to 2017, shows that the contributors including unpaid work in the home and Rural Insurance totaled 4 347 615.

The number of current disenrollments includes those who have been fired. Only in this range, the Ministry of Labor records 180 852 contracts completed until last June 15.

This list also includes voluntary members who are no longer volunteers.

According to the entity’s statistics, 39.10% of them are young people between 21 and 30 years old. They are followed by those from 31 to 40 years old (23.76%), and those from 41 to 50 years old (14.3%). But in all these segments, men prevail.

For Social Security this deficit would have an impact on other insurances such as health and old age. That is why it analyzes three ways to deduct an extra percentage from their monthly salaries or even from the tenths to finance the future payments of third and fourth tenths when they have retired.

Jorge Wated, President of the Board of Directors of the IESS, pointed out that this future payment is not financed and that the first option is the additional staggered discount to the monthly salary (0.50% in the first five years and that will increase every five years, until reach 1.96% in 2058).

The second is to discount a flat rate of 1.10% monthly. And the third scenario is to impose a rate on tenth wages and no longer on monthly wages.

In all the provinces and even abroad there were disaffiliations to the IESS. But Pichincha is the most affected. 40% of the disaffiliations were registered in that province, more than 97,300.

It is followed by Guayas with 24.5% (58 914 disaffiliated), Azuay with 6% (15 359) and Manabí with 4% (9 767 people outside the IESS).

In the case of voluntary affiliates abroad, 2207 withdrew.

In turn, the employer default amounts to USD 113.1 million corresponding to March and April that must be collected.

The Bank of the Ecuadorian Social Security Institute (Biess) had asked the Social Security Board of Directors not to take into account the employer default in order for the affiliates to have access to the emerging unsecured workers. But that has not yet been resolved.