Because of the shortage of skilled workers: Habeck advocates a more flexible retirement age

Many companies are already unable to find enough qualified specialists - but the problem is likely to worsen in the coming years.

Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens) wants to take countermeasures and also rely on more employees voluntarily working longer than the standard retirement age.

Habeck told the “Handelsblatt” that there should be longer working lives on a voluntary basis.

“You should be able to work flexibly longer.

That would be a double benefit: if you want, you can contribute your knowledge, your skills and your experience for longer.”

According to Habeck, companies and society could benefit from this.

“And we could counteract the shortage of skilled workers.

So we should be talking about something like a retirement window, not a fixed age.”

A ministry paper states that the shortage of skilled workers will intensify in the coming years.

With the transition of the baby boomer generation into retirement, the number of people in work will decrease significantly.

At the same time, digitization and the transformation towards climate neutrality would increase or change the need for skilled workers.

Germans retire at the age of 64

The federal government will continue to develop its skilled labor strategy, according to the paper that was available to the German Press Agency.

A framework should be created so that employees can work at least up to the standard retirement age and, if necessary, voluntarily, if they wish, even beyond that – for example, by making retirement more flexible, combined with financial incentives to work longer for those who want to.

According to the current legal situation, the age limit for the pension will be gradually raised from 65 to 67 years without deductions by 2029.

Again and again there are debates about a higher statutory retirement age.

But Habeck is concerned with more employees voluntarily working longer.

According to the Ministry's paper, Germans retire at an average age of 64, which means before the normal retirement age.

After the so-called flexible pension, employees can work longer once they have reached the standard retirement age.

There are surcharges for this.

As the ministry said, Habeck's initiative is also about discussing again whether these incentives are sufficient.

In the ministry's paper, one of the tasks in the fight against the shortage of skilled workers is to increase the volume of work: "There is still untapped potential, especially among women and older people."

DGB calls for more age-appropriate jobs

DGB board member Anja Piel told the dpa on Monday: "Who doesn't know him from his childhood: The advice to just keep quiet if there's nothing smart to say.

Vice Chancellor Habeck's proposal to voluntarily make the retirement age more flexible falls under this reservation.

What the minister should know: Even today, every employee can continue to work beyond the statutory retirement age if he or she is healthy enough to do so.

The applicable law does not prohibit that.” It even sets the required incentives.

According to Piel, the real problems do not lie in pension law, but rather in the labor market, which is "walled up" for many older employees, and in the rare jobs that are suitable for the elderly.

“They are urgently needed so that employees can work up to the standard retirement age at all.

The Federal Minister of Economics, Habeck, would be asked to make tough demands on employers so that older employees can still be hired and then be able to work healthy and under good conditions until they retire.”

Similar criticism came from IG Metall: "Anyone who wants to secure skilled workers and recruit employees over the age of 60 does not have to change pension law, but improve working conditions," explained executive board member Hans-Jürgen Urban.

“The vast majority of employees find it difficult to reach the standard retirement age.

Stress and work rush as well as high physical strain push employees out of working life.”

Habeck told the "Handelsblatt": "Securing skilled workers is an overall task of extremely high economic and social importance.

We are not defenseless in any of the subject areas or doomed to inactivity.” There are “weak points” in the compatibility of family and career.

From the point of view of the ministry, professions in the fields of trade, IT, metal and electrical engineering are particularly affected by the shortage of skilled workers in addition to the health and care sector.

According to a recent survey by the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce, 61 percent of companies fear that they will not be able to find enough qualified staff.

As a further measure against the shortage of skilled workers, the ministry is in favor of increasing the immigration of qualified skilled workers from third countries.

To do this, legal hurdles would have to be lowered and administrative procedures, for example for visas and professional recognition, would have to be simplified and accelerated.