Stabilization of pensions: Employers advocate reviewing the retirement age

The pension funds are still well stocked.

Stabilization of pensions: Employers advocate reviewing the retirement age

The pension funds are still well stocked. But in future there will be fewer and fewer contributors for more and more pensioners. That is why employers want to talk about the retirement age. The pension insurance also warns of the need for action - but does not name any specific measures.

According to the will of the employers, the age limit for the pension in Germany is to be re-examined in the foreseeable future. A decision on this politically sensitive issue is important for the year 2026, said the employer representative on the federal board of pension insurance, Alexander Gunkel, in Würzburg. According to current legislation, the retirement age is gradually being raised to the regular 67 years. The background to the debate is that due to the approaching retirement age of the baby boomer generation, there will be more and more pensioners for fewer and fewer contributors in the future.

Gunkel pointed out that there are other adjustments to the future stabilization of pensions. Among other things, he mentioned a further increase in employment - for example among women or through immigration. However, an increase in the standard retirement age is obvious. Gunkel believes that the disputed issue should be decided in 2026, since that is when certain pension calculations will take effect as a result of the retirement age being raised to 67. Gunkel also pointed out that a government commission on the future of pensions had already recommended in 2020 that there should be a new assessment in 2026 on the controversial issue of a possible increase in the age limit.

The president of the pension insurance, Gundula Roßbach, said that the demographic change creates a need for action in old-age security. Today, there would be an average of around 35 people over the standard retirement age for every 100 people of working age. It is estimated that by 2060 there could be more than 50. However, Roßbach vehemently opposed black painting. The challenges can be overcome - also through "targeted measures", whereby the pension president did not speak out for or against specific steps.

Roßbach also emphasized that the total income in old age is significantly higher than the benefits from the statutory pension alone. She emphasized, for example, "that very low pensions, viewed in isolation, are not a reliable indicator of poverty in old age". For example, single men with a statutory pension of less than 250 euros would have an average total income of almost 2,400 euros per month. In many cases, benefits from the civil service or a professional pension then flow. While 8.3 percent of the total population receive basic security or social assistance, it is only 3.2 percent of retirement age.

According to Roßbach, there is no threat of a dramatic loss of purchasing power in pensions, even as a result of high inflation. It is true that the pension increase of 3.5 percent predicted for the coming year in the west and more than 4 percent in the east will be below the expected rate of inflation. But in the longer term, the annual pension increases with rising wages would largely compensate for the loss of purchasing power, since they followed wage developments.