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33% Of Those Working In The Hospitality Sector Do Not Know What Their Major Source Of Income Will Be In Retirement

Wednesday 7 May 2008: 33% of staff working in the hotel and restaurant sector do not know what their main source of income will be in retirement, according to Mr. David Malone, Head of Information Services, The Pensions Board.

Speaking on Hospitality Day, the last day of National Pensions Action Week 2008, Mr. Malone urged hospitality employees to discuss with their employers what their pension options are. “With only 10% of employees in the sector with private pensions, there’s obviously an issue to be addressed here. The hospitality industry is a demanding, fast paced and flexible sector. Starting out at a relatively young age 15 years can go by very fast and suddenly you find yourself in your early to mid thirties with no pension provision in place.”

“Given the physical and socially demanding elements of working in the hospitality industry, for most, retiring at 65 years would be the preferred option. With greater life expectancy, this basically means that employees need to save enough over a working lifetime to fund a retirement of perhaps 20 or more years,” said Mr. Malone.

Mr. Malone was joined in his address by Mr. John Mulcahy, Head of Education and Skills Development, Fáilte Ireland who agreed that the industry needs to consider how to better help those working in the sector realise the benefits involved in pension saving and contribution.

Mr. John Power, CEO Irish Hotel Federation, Mr. Henry O’Neill CEO, Restaurant Association of Ireland and Mr. Liam Nolan, Organisation Development Officer, Vintners’ Federation of Ireland were all present at the event in Fáilte Ireland’s Training Center on Amiens Street to impress upon employers and employees alike the importance of adequate pension provision.

Throughout National Pensions Action Week, The Pensions Board has been using a multi-media approach to target key sectors with persistently low pensions coverage. To find out what your pension options are, or what a PRSA is, or who the providers are, or you would just like further information, log onto The Pensions Board web-site www.pensionsboard.ie or call us on LoCall: 1890 65 65 65.

– ENDS –

Media Queries:

Maura Howe
Project Manager- National Pensions Action Campaign
The Pensions Board
Tel: (01) 6131900

Glen McGahern
Q4 PR
Tel: (01) 4751444 / 086 – 1940057

Notes:

About the Pensions Board
The Pensions Board is the statutory body set up to regulate occupational pension schemes and PRSAs and to advise the Minister for Social and Family Affairs, and through him, the Government, on overall pension policy development.

Pension Information
The information Unit at The Pensions Board provides a wide range of pension information booklets free of charge and our online Pensions Calculator which can be accessed on www.pensionsboard.ie for the booklets the LoCall number is 1890-65-65-65.

Pensions Board web-site resource

There is a dedicated section of The Pensions Board web-site for the National Pensions Action Campaign, which provides a variety of materials for the promotion of the week in offices, places of work, centers of information throughout the country etc. These resources will include:

  • The updated Pension Checklist
  • Posters
  • Flyers
  • The Pensions Calculator and Savings Calculator
  • General article and presentation on pensions from which you can edit news items for your newsletters or website

The above can be easily downloaded, printed off or posted on relevant websites. For hard copies of the Pensions Checklist please contact the Information Unit directly on info@pensionsboard.ie.

Key Target Sectors

Sectors & demographics where pension awareness and action is low:

  • Hospitality – lowest level of pension coverage of all sectors and highest level of respondents who admitted to having limited knowledge of pensions.
  • Retail – second lowest level of pension coverage and second highest level of respondents admitting to not knowing about pensions in retirement.
  • Farming – third lowest pension coverage among employees and lowest personal pension coverage among self-employed.
  • Women – have lower pension coverage than men at 50.6% in comparison to 58.3%; the gap has been tightening since 2002, but continuous promotion is still required particularly given the nature of their work and fragmented career paths.
  • Population aged 25 – 35 years old – a key target for The Pensions Board, as it is critical that workers start their pension early in their working life in order to ensure they have adequate provision for their retirement.
  • Young People / Graduates – it is important that the pension message reaches people before they start their first job so as to encourage behavioural change towards spending.
  • International Workers – A high percentage of the migrant workers do not have a pension.

(CSO Quarterly National Household Survey 2006 figures)