Pension reform: 59% of French people ready to contribute more to leave earlier

Europe 1 7:35 p.m., January 11, 2023

The subject has been unleashing passions for a little over 24 hours.

This Tuesday, at the end of the afternoon, Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne presented the pension reform project, announcing in particular the postponement of the legal retirement age to 64 by 2030 as well as the acceleration of the Touraine law of 2014 which provides for an extension of the contribution period.

Thus, from 2027, it will take 43 years of contributions to benefit from a full pension.

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- The pension reform "will mark the extinction of the main special schemes"

The day after these announcements, while the unions will mobilize on January 19, an Ifop poll for the

reveals that 59% of French people are ready to contribute more to be able to retire earlier.

Clearly, it would be for these employees to agree to a slight reduction in salary in order to contribute more for their retirement and thus obtain more quickly the 172 quarters now required for a full retirement. 

Divisions according to age, geographical area and political sympathies

Nevertheless, the survey reports significant generational divides.

Thus, 66% of young working people (18-24 years old) are willing to increase the amount of their contributions compared to only 47% of 50-64 year olds.

Geographic disparities are also observed.

Employees working in rural areas are more likely to want to contribute more (61%) than those living in the Ile-de-France region (52%).

The different political sympathies highlight other divisions.

Those close to the far right are among the most inclined to contribute more (70%) while the figure drops to 63% among majority supporters and 54% for supporters of La France insoumise. 

Finally, it should be noted that the sex of the respondents does not bring out any particular disparities.

Thus, 60% of women and 59% of men are ready to contribute more in order to retire earlier.