Retire at 70?

Economists want to further raise the entry age because of inflation

Created: 05/18/2022, 14:27

By: Lisa Mayerhofer

People with small pensions are particularly dependent on money.

© Jens Wolf/zb/dpa

Leading German economists are calling for the retirement age to be raised because of inflation.

Otherwise, prices would continue to rise, they warn in a report.

Berlin – Inflation in Germany is rising – energy, food and many other products are becoming more and more expensive for people.

According to the Federal Statistical Office, consumer prices in April were 7.4 percent higher than in the same month last year.

That was the highest level in reunified Germany.

According to a media report, several economists are now calling for the retirement age to be raised because of inflation.

“The retirement age must rise.

Germany already has a huge problem with skilled workers, hundreds of thousands of jobs are unfilled," Leipzig economist Gunther Schnabl told the

newspaper.

As a result, among other things, wages would have to rise sharply in the next few years, making goods even more expensive.

Retirement: Economists advocate raising the retirement age

"The mix of aging society, high levels of debt and energy transition will pose an increasing threat to price stability in the coming years," said the Vice President of the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, Stefan Kooths, the newspaper.

More and more pensioners are faced with fewer and fewer employees.

This could lead to further increases in prices.

The Freiburg economist Bernd Raffelhüschen told the newspaper that the pension policy of the past few years, such as the introduction of the pension at 63, was financed "with more and more new debts".

He advocated linking retirement to increasing life expectancy.

Retirement: More and more people aged 67 and over are still working

More and more people over the age of 67 are now working in Germany.

Last year there were 1.05 million, according to a government response to a request from the Left Party in the Bundestag,

quoted by the

In 2010, the number was still around 685,000.

In 2015 there were almost 792,000, in 2018 a good 968,000.

"It's a sad development," Left MP Sören Pellmann told RND.

The numbers are "also the consequence of a pension system that hardly ensures the standard of living of the citizens." If more and more pensioners have to work, the pensions are "clearly too low".

Despite the pension increase in the summer, this problem is getting bigger due to the sharp rise in prices.