Paris (AFP)

Pension plans in developed countries must be reformed in the face of accelerated aging of the population and the proliferation of atypical jobs - independent and part-time - the OECD said in a report released Wednesday.

While in 1980, there were 2 people over 65 for 10 assets, there are 3 to 10 today and there should be 6 to 10 by 2060, says the Cooperation Organization. and economic development.

In view of this foreseeable development, it calls for further reforms to ensure the long-term viability of pension schemes.

"It is understandable that some countries want to come back on some unpopular measures that were adopted in a context of crisis," said in a presentation to the press Hervé Boulhol, OECD economist specializing in pensions and population aging.

But he warned against the temptation of a financial relaxation because the corrective measures adopted "often revealed weaknesses that are structural and the measures that were taken were intended to cope with long-term trends, particularly demographic ones, which are not ready to stop. "

In the last two years, Italy, a country that is aging rapidly and whose pensions have the highest average "replacement rate" with respect to wages, has eased the conditions for early retirement and postponed indexing until 2026. age of departure on life expectancy for certain categories of workers.

France stands out with a particularly low average age of leaving the labor force of 60.8 years, four years less than the average for OECD countries.

The organization criticizes the "parameters of the pension system and special schemes" in France today, which "help to limit employment after 60 years".

And while the current replacement rate of 74% is significantly higher than the average for OECD countries (59%), "in many countries, replacement rates are higher (than in France) for low wages, "says Boulhol.

- Disadvantaged Independents -

The future universal system by points that the French government wants to put in place will simplify the current system considered too complex and will allow "to put in place clear rules of adjustment of its main parameters according to the medium-term evolution of the demography ", hopes the report. A massive strike is planned from December 5 in French rail transport against this reform.

The report notes, however, that already today, "half of OECD countries apply automatic adjustment mechanisms" but not France, which is also one of the few countries that do not take into account wages on the entire career.

The transition to a new system can be made either by a "brutal reform", as in the Baltic countries, or over 10 to 15 years as in Sweden, Norway or Poland, or finally over a very long period as in Italy where "There has been no conversion of acquired rights into the old system".

Pension systems are also faced with the challenge of the proliferation of "atypical" jobs (self-employed, part-time, temporary) that "represent more than one in three jobs" and are less well covered than employees.

"Mandatory and optional pension schemes should strive to provide the same treatment to self-employed and salaried workers," says the OECD.

A mutation more difficult to achieve in France, Germany, Italy or the Netherlands where contribution rates "vary considerably from one category of self-employed to another", while in about half of the countries of the world. "OECD," the self-employed are subject to the same contribution rate as employees ".

The situation of these "atypical workers", however, seems more enviable in France than in Germany, one of the few countries where no compulsory contribution system is provided for non-employees.

© 2019 AFP