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The virus causes the first annual drop in the number of pensioners

2020-11-25T18:37:46.150Z


The decrease comes due to the increase in deaths from the covid and the administrative traffic jamSocial Security adds fewer pensioners now than a year before. In September and October - when there were 8,867,680 - fewer pensioners were counted than those reflected in the statistics in the same months of 2019. It is not a big drop, but they are down, something that had not happened in the 15 years of the series from the public institute. The causes of covid-19 must be sought through a double p


Social Security adds fewer pensioners now than a year before.

In September and October - when there were 8,867,680 - fewer pensioners were counted than those reflected in the statistics in the same months of 2019. It is not a big drop, but they are down, something that had not happened in the 15 years of the series from the public institute.

The causes of covid-19 must be sought through a double path: on the one hand, the significant increase in deaths, there are many more than in other years, and, on the other, the lower number of discharges due to administrative traffic jam by confinement.

The profile of those who died from the coronavirus - which affects the elderly with much greater virulence - suggested that Social Security was going to notice its effects.

And so it has been.

It is observed when comparing the loss of pensions, caused almost exclusively by deaths, during the first nine months of the year (this statistic is published with one month lag).

They have increased by 13.5%, about 50,000 more than in the same period of the previous year.

But the number of pensioners - and the number of pensions - also depends on registration.

And they have also been influenced by the pandemic.

There are other factors that may be playing a role.

One is the gradual delay in the retirement age from 65 to 67 years, something that began in 2013 and will end in 2027. Another could be the announcement of a pension reform, although in this case it would be in the opposite direction, since when that happens some workers tend to advance their retirement due to uncertainty.

However, these two elements were already present before covid-19 arrived.

On the discharge side, the sanitary circumstances have conditioned administrative activity to the point that offices were closed in the hardest moments of confinement.

This, as they explain from the Social Security, "has meant that it cannot be processed at the same rate as before the pandemic."

And this was especially noticeable in the second quarter of the year.

In the following months, the data indicates that normality has returned.

But the total figure still carries what happened during the spring, so the drop in the number of discharges until September is 10.7%, to 378,486.

The two circumstances combined have led to fewer pensioners than a year ago.

And much less if the comparison is made starting in February, just the month before the effects of the pandemic began to be felt in all its harshness.

It was at that moment when the ceiling set so far was reached (more than 8.9 million pensioners).

This is the first time something like this has happened.

It is not normal, but it does sometimes decrease the number of pensioners from one month to another.

A virulent flu or a month with fewer working days are noted in public records.

But the underlying trend in a society like that of Spain, which is aging and in which life expectancy grows, ends up prevailing.

So it can be said, almost with complete certainty, that this fall will be a parenthesis and in the coming months the number of pensioners will increase again.

This is so because Social Security will recover the delayed work in the coming months.

On the health circumstances that influence the other side of these figures, for now there is more uncertainty.

All these numbers refer to pensioners who receive a contributory benefit paid by Social Security.

Neither the passive classes (retired civil servants) nor non-contributory pensions, whose financing comes from taxes, do not enter them.

Also, a pensioner does not equal a pension.

There are quite a few pensioners who receive two benefits: in October the public institute had more than 8.8 million beneficiaries and, on the other hand, 9.78 million pensions.

This is mainly due to widowhood benefits, which are fully compatible with both other benefits and other income, such as wages.

Contrary to what happens with pensioners, the total number of benefits has not decreased.

However, its evolution has also slowed down a lot, until it was practically stagnant compared to the same month in 2019. If a year ago it grew at a rate slightly higher than 1%, last month it did so at 0.05%.

Source: elparis

All business articles on 2020-11-25

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