4.4 instead of 5.2 percent: the around 21 million pensioners in Germany must expect a lower increase in 2022.
The reason is a traffic light plan.
Berlin - The pension increase next year will be 0.8 percentage points lower than expected.
“The forecast was 5.2 percent.
Now I expect pensions in Germany to rise by 4.4 percent from July 2022, "said the acting Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD) of
Bild am Sonntag (BamS)
.
"That's still very neat."
The reason for this is that, according to the coalition agreement, the traffic light coalition wants to bring the catch-up factor back to life.
The expected new Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) as Federal Minister of Labor in the financial crisis of 2008 introduced it to compensate for the pension guarantee.
This ensures that if wages fall in a crisis, pensions do not have to be cut as well.
If wages rise again, the catch-up factor should ensure that the pension cut that has not been implemented is compensated mathematically.
The grand coalition suspended this catching-up factor in 2018.
Pension in Germany: Corona pandemic resulted in a zero round
At the beginning of November it was still said that next July pensions could rise by 5.2 percent in western Germany and by 5.9 percent in the east.
This would have increased pensions in western Germany more than they have been for almost 40 years.
This year, the corona pandemic had significantly increased the number of retirees.
In the west there was a zero round, in east Germany an increase of 0.72 percent.
The reason was the cyclical slump in premium income.
Heil also made it clear: “A government led by Social Democrats will not lead to pension cuts.
And: The pension development must not be decoupled from the wage development.
That is why we ensure a stable pension level over the long term. ”At the same time, he promised to implement the increase in the minimum wage by the middle of next year.
(AFP / dpa / frs)
