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Senior in Düsseldorf: In other countries, there is already a link to life expectancy
Photo: Michael Gstettenbauer / IMAGO
The statutory retirement age is currently being gradually raised from 65 to 67. According to experts, however, this will not be enough to ensure the financing of the pension in the long term.
The Ifo Institute has now made a proposal on how the financing of the pay-as-you-go pension system could be put on a more secure footing in the long term. The researchers are in favour of linking the retirement age to increasing life expectancy.
"Some of our neighbouring countries have already decided to do so – the Netherlands, Sweden and Finland," says pension expert Joachim Ragnitz from the Ifo branch in Dresden. In the Netherlands, for example, the rule is that if people live three years longer, they have to work two years longer and receive a pension for one year longer. The ratio of pensioners to employed persons would thus remain stable at around 2040 percent after 40 – and not rise to almost 50 percent, as currently forecast.
Civil servants in pension fund? According to Ifo researchers, this does not make sense
Behind the initiative is the problem that, due to the ageing of society, there will be too many recipients in the long run compared to too few contributors when it comes to pensions. In the past, the pension insurance system had also shown itself open to a new debate about working longer.
Alternatively, the pension amount could also be reduced. The Ifo researchers also argue in this direction. For example, it is worth considering no longer linking pension increases to wage increases, as has been the case up to now. Instead, they should be guided by the inflation rate, which is usually lower. This would slow down the increase in pension expenditure.
In the opinion of the Ifo researchers, however, it does not make sense to include the self-employed and civil servants in the payment of contributions, as is often demanded. This solution would relieve the burden on pension funds in the short term. In the long term, however, the payouts for these groups would be considerably higher – partly because they would have a higher life expectancy.
Among the proponents of a later retirement age are also the economic experts. In their current annual report for the Federal Government, they also advocate a "linking of the statutory retirement age to future life expectancy, combined with a new form of supplemental, funded retirement provision".
Federal Labour Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD) has so far rejected a further increase. In his view, this would be at the expense of the younger generation, which is retiring after the baby boomers. Chancellor Olaf Scholz also recently rejected an increase in the retirement age, saying that after 67 is "also good".
This captures the mood of many people. Although they would have to work longer economically, almost 70 percent of the baby boomers, those baby boomers who are currently retiring and will retire in the coming years, want to leave the profession early.
apr/Reuters