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Elderly employee in Brandenburg (archive picture): "Politics must deal with these issues"
Photo: Monika Skolimowska / picture alliance / dpa
The traffic light parties could not agree in their coalition agreement on pension cuts or a higher retirement age.
Just weeks after the new government took office, the head of the German Pension Insurance (DRV), Gundula Roßbach, spoke again on the subject in an interview.
Politicians must "closely monitor developments" in the coming legislative period, she told the "Bild" newspaper. Rossbach also spoke out in favor of a debate about a later retirement age after 2031. "The pay-as-you-go system has proven to be very adaptable in the many crises in the past and indeed future social developments must lead to adjustments," she emphasized.
However, the question of the retirement age after 2031 cannot be answered in isolation from other parameters such as health.
»Politicians have to deal with these issues in the next four years - it would be important that this happens with the consensus of the political parties.
After all, old-age insurance affects many millions of people in our country. «In order to avoid a higher entry age, the new government wants to implement partial funding of the statutory pension insurance.
Almost every second person over 60 is still working
According to the DRV boss, German citizens have always worked longer until they retire.
»In 2000, only ten percent of 60 to 64 year olds were employed subject to compulsory pension insurance.
Currently it is 42 percent, so almost every second, "said Roßbach the" picture ".
Overall, the average insurance period has increased by four years since the noughties.
Nevertheless, the pay-as-you-go pension system in its current form is reaching its limits.
Because society is aging, there are too many recipients in the long run compared to too few contributors.
In order to still be able to finance the system, the retirement age will gradually increase from 65 to 67 years from 2012 to 2031.
At the same time, the proportion that the state has to add to the pension fund from tax revenues continues to grow.
Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD) had rejected an even later entry age as "cynical" in the past.
However, due to the financing problems, experts recently called for a higher entry age, which is linked to life expectancy.
An important reason for the poor situation of the pension system is the large number of baby boomer cohorts who are leaving the world of work.
However, simply letting you and future generations work longer is likely to be difficult.
It is true that older people, especially the highly qualified, are more and more gainfully employed when they retire, but many baby boomers prefer to leave sooner rather than later.
In addition, especially for physically demanding activities, the retirement age cannot be postponed any further.
apr / AFP
