Pension Protection Among Minority Ethnic Groups in the UK: The Role of Investments and Subjective Indicators

Athina Vlachantoni, Centre for Research on Ageing, University of Southampton
Yuanyuan Yin, Winchester School of Art, University of Southampton
Saddaf Naaz Akhtar , Centre for Research on Ageing, University of Southampton
Spela Mocnik, Centre for Research on Ageing, University of Southampton

Previous research has evidenced ethnic differentials among working-age individuals’ propensity to work for an employer who offers a pension scheme, and elderly individuals’ propensity to receive pension income from different sources (state, occupational, private). Such research has shown that working-age Bangladeshi and Pakistani individuals are less likely than White British individuals to work for an employer who offers a pension scheme, while Bangladeshi and Pakistani persons aged 65+ are less likely than their White British counterparts to receive a state, occupational or private pension. However, such research has not considered the role of investments and of subjective indicators in ethnic differentials. This paper applies logistic regression techniques on data from Understanding Society (2020-21) and the Family Resources Survey (2021-22) to examine the role of investments, such as having an account or investment, and of subjective indicators, such as life satisfaction, income satisfaction and subjective financial status in the association between ethnicity and pension outcomes. Among working-age persons, the results show that Bangladeshi, Indian and Black individuals were less likely than White/ White British persons to have an account or investments, and that considering one’s financial status as difficult was associated with a higher risk of being in paid work, but with a lower risk of working for an employer with a pension scheme. Among persons aged 65+, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Chinese individuals were less likely than White/ White British persons to have any investments, while being dissatisfied with one’s income made one less likely to receive an occupational pension.

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 Presented in Session P3. Migration, Economics, Policies, History