- To better enhance pensions, the government plans to correct the value of the point based on "average income per capita".
- Problem: this statistic does not yet exist and raises questions.
- Denouncing this vagueness, opponents of the reform accuse the government of amateurism.
New controversy over pension reform. For the past few days, this has been one of the parameters of the future point system: the "average income per capita". According to the bill currently under consideration in the Assembly - the special committee ended its work Tuesday evening without coming to an end, and the text will be in the Hemicycle as of Monday -, it is this indicator which will gradually serve as a benchmark for upgrading pensioners' pensions.
Problem: the figure of “average income per capita” does not exist, as confirmed by INSEE in France 3. Opponents of the reform therefore accuse the government of amateurism. "Ubuesque! ", Denounced in particular on Twitter, Tuesday, the leader of France Insoumise Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
RETIREMENTS: This average income per capita…. THAT DOES NOT EXIST !
It was revealed last Friday that the macronistes plan to calculate the points of their retirement with points on the basis of an indicator… which does not exist! Ubuesque! #Retraite #retraites #reformedesretraites pic.twitter.com/i34FJol5Ou
Already in the Delevoye report
Behind this blur, would there be a wolf? One thing is certain: the “average income per capita” did not come out of the hat when the bill was introduced. A definition of this indicator already appeared in July on the government website: the term, present in the Delevoye report, designates "the mass of the remuneration paid by employers and the income of the self-employed relative to the number of insured contributors".
This reference is explained by the universal nature of the point system. "There is a set of workers in France" who "all contribute to the wealth of our country," explained in committee the rapporteur LREM of the bill Nicolas Turquois, deputy of Vienne. It must be taken into account in the right proportions ”.
An a priori positive index
Published in January, the impact study on the pension reform did not provide further details on the amount of average income per capita. The document even adds to the confusion by continuing to use the term "average wage per capita". This last statistic is however well known: it is gross wages compared to the number of employees, according to INSEE.
In one case as in the other, the idea remains the same: index the value of the point on the evolution of the remuneration of labor and not on the evolution of prices. The government argues that this system will have a positive influence on the amount of pensions for retirees, since labor earnings are growing faster than inflation.
But in view of the vagueness that remains around this indicator, doubt remains open, according to opponents of the reform. Especially since other parameters of the future system - such as the equilibrium age, if not reached by retirees - could play downward on pensions.
A questionable indicator according to INSEE agents
Another problem: the construction of the indicator could constitute a technical challenge. "The difficulty will be to collect and aggregate wages with salaries, income, remuneration ... and to make a consistent and representative average," said Françoise Kleinbauer, president of France pensions.
And beyond the statistical issue, the very relevance of the indicator questions. For the "INSEE mobilization committee", a collective bringing together some fifty statisticians opposed to the reform, this index is indeed "subject to dispute". It is in particular the integration of the income of the self-employed - very variable depending on the profession - which leaves these agents perplexed. "Such an indicator would be much more fragile, because the income of the self-employed is more volatile and is based on estimates of their unreported income," the committee continued.
The reassuring rapporteurs
In the absence of expertise on this subject, it is impossible today to establish with certainty if the evolution of this "average income per capita" will be more or less favorable than an index based on wages. Interviewed Tuesday by the association of journalists of social information (Ajis), the rapporteurs of the bill tried to clear the subject. "The index, the creation of which is entrusted to INSEE and which will merge the various activity incomes, will be more favorable than inflation even if we integrate the self-employed," said MEP LREM Nicolas Turquois in particular, reports the specialized information site Actuel-RH.
Economy
Who are the winners and losers from the government standard cases?
Economy
What does the interim impact study of the future point system reveal?
- Retirement
- Salary
- Government
- Insee
- Pension reform
- Economy