Chop money life: Joblessness, unretirement, and dependence among transport workers in urban Ghana

In this article, I explore how older, jobless informal workers in urban Ghana’s transport sector struggle to sustain their livelihoods by relying on associational solidarity, particularly the redistributive practice of ‘chop money.’ I situate my analysis of the social and economic implications of chop money dependence in the context of the sweeping precarization of urban labour since the 1980s, as well as the absence of public welfare provision and diminishing family support resources. Drawing on long-term ethnographic research, I examine tensions around solidarity, dependence, and culturally shaped notions of male responsibility. I argue that a focus on the (failed) life course transitions of ageing transport workers offers important insights in relation to informality, the challenges of unretirement, and the ambivalent relationships established through non-kin support networks.