The president of the employers' association Gesamtmetall, Stefan Wolf, advocates a later retirement age.
"We have to be honest with the people: We will not be able to keep the retirement age at 67 years," Wolf told the newspapers of the Funke Mediengruppe: "We will have to talk about a retirement age of 69 to 70 years in the next few years." -President, who represents companies in the metal and electrical industry, warned of a financing problem in the pension funds.
A few weeks ago there was another discussion about whether the retirement age should be raised.
Experts advising the Ministry of Economic Affairs suggested an increase to 68 years in a report.
There is currently a gradual increase in the entry age to 67. The background to the debate is the aging of society: In the long run, too many recipients of pensions are compared to too few contributors.
The social association VdK meanwhile demands a deduction-free pension with 63 after 45 years of contribution.
Those who work in a job with high stress, such as construction, logistics or care for the elderly, live much shorter on average, said VdK President Verena Bentele in Berlin.
She referred to a study presented at the beginning of the week by the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), which was carried out on behalf of the association. Accordingly, high occupational stress has an impact on life expectancy. Pensioners who worked in occupations with high stress lived three years shorter than those who had less stress.
The VdK rejects proposals to increase the retirement age to 68, 69 or 70 years in order to stabilize the pension fund. That would further exacerbate the social division in the older population and lead to even more poverty in old age, said Bentele. "We need a pension insurance in which all employees pay: workers, employees, self-employed and politicians and civil servants as well." This is the only way to stabilize the statutory pension insurance in the long term and to combat social divisions.