Pensions: how much will private pensioners receive with the revaluation on 1 January

Barthélémy Philippe, edited by Gauthier Delomez / Photo credits: Joël SAGET / AFP 06:21, 04 January 2024

For retirees, it's a bit like Christmas after the hour. On 1 January, the basic pension of former employees in the private sector was increased by 5.3%. This is a second boost that comes at the right time after the 4.9% increase in supplementary pensions last November. For example, a modest pensioner who received €1,400 gross per month in 2023 will now receive €1,470.

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The boost amounts to €50 for the basic pension and €20 for the supplementary pension. For a pensioner whose pension reached 2,800 euros last year, the bonus reaches 140 euros, and for a privileged person who received 4,800 euros, the pension will exceed the 5,000 euro mark.

"It's not a gain in purchasing power"

However, retirees are not getting richer, says Emmanuel Grimaud, president of Maximis Retraite, a financial planner in Paris. "It's not a gain in purchasing power, it's in line with inflation. It was much stronger and much more perceived," he told Europe 1 radio. "If we take an index of 100 in 2020, a product that was worth 100 on average is worth 112.7 at the end of 2023, and my pension is worth 113.2. In other words, it's really the thickness of the line," points out Emmanuel Grimaud.

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Last year, basic and supplementary pensions had already kept pace with inflation, with increases of more than 5%. But this has not always been the case: in 2019, basic pensions were increased by 0.3% by the government while inflation was flirting with 2%. This under-indexation is synonymous with declining purchasing power for retirees.