Will the pension reform cause a generational split?

• The government presented its bill on Tuesday to reform pensions.

• Assets are afraid of financing pensions that they will not receive.

  When retirees expect of them what they themselves have done for their elders.

• According to sociologist Anne-Marie Guillemard, a split between generations is more to be feared than a conflict.

  Indeed, without hope of retirement pensions, the youngest could be tempted to abandon the pay-as-you-go pension in favor of a funded pension.

By presenting her pension reform project on Tuesday, which notably provides for a departure at 64, did Elisabeth Borne ignite the fuse of a conflict between the generations?

Because from the oldest, residents for several years, to the youngest, contributors for their elders, everyone is concerned.

And of course, opinions differ.

"They think only of their pension and will vote for anything that can protect it, even if it means sacrificing ourselves," said Christelle, 26, employed in an international transport company.

"Young people no longer want to work and want everything without making an effort", retorted Claude, 87 years old.

Like these two Parisians, the testimonies collected by

show a real discrepancy.

Not so much on the idea of ​​a reform as on the distribution of efforts and the gains to be preserved.

“This law is unfair, we are going to have to work longer, without knowing if we will be entitled to a pension, while they have experienced the thirty glorious years and full employment but do not accept any concessions and do everything to preserve their privileges. “, is moved Antoine, 25 years old and active for three years.

“We too have known the crises and we have not grumbled to pay the pensions of our elders.

Each in turn”, replies Adrien, retired from nuclear engineering and favorable “by default” to the bill.

The beginning of a generational conflict?

To say that the generations do not understand each other is nothing revolutionary.

But faced with a reform of this magnitude, some fear that the positions of each other are irreconcilable.

“Young and old have always struggled to understand each other.

And in view of the importance of a reform like the one to come, the commitment is always more intense”, estimates Monique Selim, anthropologist of work.

According to her, it is above all a question of the government's strategy to pass the reform pill.

“He emphasizes generational solidarity to facilitate the difficult passage of his law.

Thus, the generations look at each other rather than turn against the promoter of this law.

»

"We have the feeling of having to sacrifice ourselves for retirees, when we don't even know if we will have a retirement," exasperated Elisa, a publishing executive.

A legitimate fear according to Anne-Marie Guillemard, sociologist specializing in work and retirement at the School of Advanced Studies in Social Sciences (EHESS): "I do not believe in a war of generations, advances the academic, on the other hand, we could see a split in our society.

“And to clarify:” Our pension system was created on the basis of intergenerational solidarity: those who pay the pensions of previous generations believe in their own retirement.

If this hope no longer exists, the chain of solidarity disappears.

This is the principle of pay-as-you-go retirement.

The young pay for the old,

knowing that younger people will pay for them.

»

Young people tempted to go it alone

Consequence: young people would be more and more tempted by funded retirement or by the creation of “safeguard” savings.

Not out of conviction but out of spite and a survival instinct.

A hypothesis confirmed by Cassio: “I don't see why I would contribute when I would probably never see the counterpart.

It's sad, but I also have to think about myself and my future.

According to Anne-Marie Guillemard, the only solution to save our pension system, "would be to restore equity between generations".

By offering, for example, training and relevant professional support throughout the careers of active workers in exchange for a few additional years of work, with, in the long term, a decent retirement guaranteed.

Politics

Pension reform: The legal maximum of ten 49.3 reached?

Florian Philippot is wrong

Company

Pension reform: What is the retirement age in our European neighbours?

• Company

• Pension reform

• Elisabeth Borne

• Retreat