When the state doesn’t drive retirement: informal transport workers and the crisis of social protection in Ghana

Abstract

This study examines how Ghana’s informal transport workers navigate retirement planning without formal pensions. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 65 minibus and taxi drivers across urban Ghana, selected purposively to capture a diverse age range (30–65 years). Thematic analysis reveals three key findings on how occupational precarity shapes retirement strategies. First, workers develop hybrid financial systems that combine vehicle asset liquidation, informal savings (susu), and intergenerational support—strategies that treat vehicles as retirement assets, with implications for fleet sustainability. Second, while most drivers enroll in national health insurance, they neglect mental health and disability planning, exposing gaps in occupational health provisions for aging transport workers. Third, deep institutional distrust fosters a preference for self-managed solutions over formal pensions, challenging policymakers to design transport-sector-specific social protection mechanisms. The concept of “negotiated social protection” is introduced to explain how workers blend security strategies, suggesting asset-based welfare products and union-led pension schemes that harness existing trust. The study contributes to transportation research by examining the human dimensions of transport systems often overlooked in infrastructure-focused scholarship—specifically, the life-course trajectories and social protection needs of the workers who sustain informal transport networks in low- and middle-income countries. The study bridges transport research, labor geography, and social policy by highlighting the intersection of aging and precarity in the informal transport sector. The findings call for rethinking retirement policies for informal transport workers, demonstrating that the welfare of aging workers is integral to sustainable urban transport systems that serve millions across cities in the Global South.