Optional subscription to SSC ‘still feasible’ despite planned increase in deduction — spokesperson

AMMAN — The Social Security Corporation (SSC) does not expect optional subscribers to end their insurance subscriptions as of 2017, as social security insurance is still “feasible” despite a planned raise in the deducted amount, an official said on Wednesday.

Starting from January 1, 2017, the SSC optional subscribers will pay 17.5 per cent of their monthly income in subscription to the corporation, under the 2014 Social Security Law, compared to the previous 16.75 per cent. 

The law entails a gradual increase of 0.75 per cent in deduction rates until it reaches a maximum of a 3 per cent increase (2 per cent on the employer and 1 per cent on the subscriber).

SSC Spokesperson Musa Sbeihi told The Jordan Times that the new subscription is still feasible for optional subscribers, as it is only a 0.75 per cent increase compared to previous dues, suggesting that it is not a big increase.

“Optional subscribers earn back the subscriptions they pay after three to four years of retirement,” he explained.

Sbeihi said Jordanian expatriates comprise over half of SSC’s optional subscribers, who exceed 73,000 in number.

While the corporation has carried out four awareness visits to Jordanian expatriates in Saudi Arabia to educate them on social security insurance, future plans include covering other areas in the Saudi kingdom that were not covered, as well as other Gulf Cooperation Council countries.

Official figures estimate the number of Jordanian professionals in the six-state Gulf Cooperation Council at nearly 750,000, nearly 300,000 of whom are based in Saudi Arabia, followed by the UAE with nearly 200,000.

The SSC has also received invitations from Jordanian expatriate group coordinators in Germany and Italy to visit, meet with citizens and explain social security insurance to them, according to Sbeihi. 

The insurance for optional subscribers covers old-age retirement, disability and death.

Eligible subscribers to optional social security insurance must be Jordanian, over 16 years and under 55 (for those subscribing for the first time), and must not be officially registered workers.

The SSC will also expand its local awareness campaigns on optional subscription, with a major emphasis on including housewives.