As of: January 29, 2024, 10:34 a.m
By: Markus Hofstetter
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The official retirement age in Switzerland is 65.
But high-earning employees in the financial sector retire significantly earlier on average.
Bern - In Switzerland, men can officially retire at 65.
For women, the retirement age will be gradually increased from 64 to 65 years.
Only women born in 1964 or later have to work like men until they are 65.
The reality is very close to this.
As the figures from the Federal Statistical Office (BFS) show, the average age at leaving the labor market in 2022 was 64.8 years.
In 2017, a high of 65.8 years was reached.
These figures also include the self-employed, who often work longer.
Swiss bankers retire the earliest: on average, employees in the financial sector retire at just under 63 years old
However, there are apparently big differences between the individual sectors of the economy.
“Employees in agriculture and forestry remain active on the labor market for an above-average period,” writes the BFS.
“In contrast, people in the banking and insurance sectors leave the labor market much earlier.”
In Switzerland, employees retire at an average age of 64.8, while bankers retire much earlier.
© Geisser/imago
The BFS also provides concrete figures based on the average for the years 2016 to 2020. According to this, those employed in the financial sector retired on average at 62.8 years.
Less than half work until the age of 65.
This is the lowest value of all listed industries.
With an average age of around 67.5 years, employees in agriculture and forestry retire the latest.
Swiss bankers retire the earliest: one reason is the restructuring in the industry
The BFS does not give any reasons for the many early retirements from banks and insurance companies.
Natalia Ferrara, managing director of the bank staff association, points out to the Swiss daily newspaper
Blick
the numerous restructuring measures that have been carried out in the industry in recent years.
Long-term employees who were just a few years away from retirement and for whom professional reorientation would have been very difficult often fell victim to this.
Since those affected were often offered early retirement instead of a social plan, the high number of early retirements is not entirely voluntary, says Ferrara.
“The high wages in our industry certainly contribute to the fact that many bankers take early retirement,” she adds, however.
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Swiss bankers retire earliest: union criticizes high early retirement rate
Gabriela Medici, social insurance expert at the Swiss Federation of Trade Unions, criticizes
the high early retirement rate at banks and insurance companies in
Blick .
“This means that employees in the sectors that earn money from our pension fund assets are retiring from active working life at an above-average age.”
Anyone who works for a bank or insurance company is generally not dependent on old-age and survivors' insurance, Medici continued.
The pension fund pensions of these early retirees are much higher than the pensions of those who have to work until the regular retirement age.