Many people continue to work even when they are officially retired. This is not always because they cannot make ends meet on their pension.
More than 1.3 million of the 18.6 million old-age pensioners in Germany work in addition. This is the result of a response from the federal government to a request from the Left in the Bundestag, which the Ippen Media Group reports on. The source is the statistics of the German pension insurance. According to this, as of December 31, 2022, a large proportion (1 million) of those who earned something in addition to their old-age pension worked in a mini-job. A good 300,000 old-age pensioners were employed in more than marginal employment.
Left Party MP Matthias W. Birkwald called it “unbearable that pensions in Germany are on average so low that many pensioners are dependent on continuing to work.”
In response to a similar request from the AfD in July, the federal government also referred to a report by the Institute for Employment Research (IAB). According to the report, enjoyment of work, a sense of meaning and contact with other people are important reasons for working in old age. Financial motives are mentioned much less frequently.
According to the German Pension Insurance, after at least 35 years of insurance, old-age pensioners in Germany received an average pension of just under 1,400 euros in 2022. The amount is always individual and depends on earnings during working life and the corresponding payments into the pension fund.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
