Pension at 70: Of course we have to work longer until retirement!

Our life expectancy is higher year after year. Men who reach the age of 65 today can look forward to an average of more than 17.5 more years of life. Women even for almost 21. fifty years ago it was a good five years less.

So it is totally logical that life expectancy also increases retirement age. You don’t even need to use the difficult financial situation of the pension fund through the demographic development to see that this makes sense. Anyone who lives longer is usually powerful.

And that is why the regular entry age has been increased to retire since 2012. It is currently 66 years and 2 months, in 2031 the regular retirement age will be 67 years. For the time afterwards, however, it remains at 67, so it wants the previous regulation. And if it goes according to the SPD and the black and red coalition agreement, it should stay that way in the future.

As always in politics, it’s about symbols. When the pension was decided at 67, this number was barely mediated, so it remained. Even then, the only logical could have been done: to incorporate a factor for life expectancy in the pension laws. Then one would not have to talk about concrete numbers. Because why should people who live longer and healthier should also be rewarded with a earlier retirement (relative to their fitness) earlier retirement? For whom the older pensioners then have to do without services – somewhere the money for the longer pension payment must come from. In any case, the overloaded household and the contributors cannot be burdened infinitely more.

Therefore, as a reminder: if the retirement is now talking about the pension, then it means that the retirement age will continue to increase by two months from 2032. Then you would have reached a pension with 70 in 2052, i.e. for the born year from 1982.

As an essential argument, however, the SPD gladly led to the fact that “politicians and economic elites” have fewer strenuous jobs than “normal workers” such as nurse, steel workers or sellers. Therefore, these would have to be retired earlier (with discounts) – and so they would actually shorten the pension.

First, there are other reasons to get sick in the job. Secondly, even if it were so, it also applies to steel cookers that their life expectancy and thus also their ability to work will be a little better. Thirdly, with the discount -free pension for particularly long -standing insured persons, a generous pension gift was already made for the group of people in apprenticeships.

In any case, the thesis that most could no longer work could not be confirmed from the figures of the pension insurance. Because the actual retirement age has increased significantly in the past decades.

What is actually true: Many people with smaller pensions also have a lower life expectancy. It is often assumed that the lying on the hard working conditions of specialists. This is not very clear, lifestyle and the quality of health care in old age also play an important role. This would not only make sense to support pensioners with smaller pensions at the expense of the better pensioners. The Business Institute DIW has just made a suggestion worth considering.

Finally, again for demography: In the mid -nineties, four employees subject to social security contributions had to finance a pensioner. In 2020 there were only three. In 2035, according to current estimates and without raising the retirement age, it would only be 2.4 employees who finance a pensioner through their contributions. This demographic change can not only be compensated for with tax remedies. Various reforms are needed for this so that they don’t get tight pensions even lower and the ancillary wage costs do not go through the ceiling.

The most effective is to raise the retirement age.