As of: February 16, 2024, 6:01 p.m
By: Ulrike Hagen, Amy Walker
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Experts have long been calling for a significant reform of pensions in order to make them future-proof.
Retirement at 63 is particularly a thorn in the side of experts.
Berlin – Early retirement has long been a thorn in the side of experts who have been insured for a long time.
Politicians are increasingly realizing that the pension at 63 must be a phased-out model.
The reasoning behind this is that in times of a shortage of skilled workers, there should be no government incentives that would allow people to leave work earlier.
Apart from that, early retirement makes it more difficult to finance the statutory pension insurance in the long term.
Accordingly, both economists and politicians have taken a clear stance against retirement at 63.
In an interview with
Ippen.Media
, pension expert and “economic sage” Martin Werding once again emphasizes his demands: “Abolish the pension at 63!”
Pension expert: discounts in Germany too low
“I and the Economic Advisory Council, of which I am a member, suggest eliminating disincentives for employees to leave working life early,” Werding continued.
Those receiving early pensions without deductions are “usually in above-average health and are urgently needed as skilled workers”.
Here we need to create more “negotiation scope for employers to retain these employees”.
But Werding goes even further and says: Those who want to retire earlier should have to accept even more significant discounts.
If you leave early, your pensions should be adjusted to the longer term with deductions, like for all other employees.
In his opinion, the deductions, i.e. deductions from the full pension in the event of early retirement, are generally too low in Germany.
The current situation is that you receive 0.3 percent less pension for each month you withdraw your pension earlier, up to a maximum of 14.4 percent.
The economist Martin Werding has suggested that the upcoming decisions from collective bargaining in the public sector should not be transferred to civil servants.
© IPON/imago
However, Werding would not completely abolish pensions at 63.
Instead, it should only be limited to low-income earners.
“For example, an early pension without deductions could then only be available to insured people who earned less than 60 percent of the average salary of all insured people per contribution year,” is the economist’s suggestion.
Because: “The probability that they have carried out particularly stressful activities and will be at their health limit before reaching the standard retirement age is significantly higher for this group.”
What is “pension at 63”?
The discount-free old-age pension for those who have been insured for a particularly long time (45 years of insurance) is colloquially called “pension at 63”, but this term is misleading: the start of the pension depends not only on the period of insurance, but also on the year of birth.
This meant that everyone born before 1953 could retire at the age of 63 without any reductions.
But this no longer applies to all people born between 1953 and 1963.
The entry age gradually shifts upwards depending on the year of birth because the retirement age is gradually increased.
If you were born in 1964 or later, you can only retire without deductions from the age of 65 after 45 years
FDP wants to abolish pensions at 63
Retirement at 63 has been under attack for some time.
Even though Labor and Social Affairs Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD) only emphasized in January that early retirement would not be abolished under him, pressure is increasing from all sides.
The coalition partner FDP has taken a completely different position and is calling for an abolition.
“But that doesn’t mean that those who have particularly tough jobs don’t get a special arrangement,” the party’s budget spokesman recently emphasized on
rbb inforadio.
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Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) also agrees.
During a speech at the Übersee Club in Hamburg, which was reported on by the
Bild
newspaper, he criticized the “paradoxical” fact that highly qualified people were allowed to retire early even though they could still continue working.
This is a “decommissioning bonus”.
And further: “We have to extend working lives,” he said.
And pension expert Werding's colleague, the chairwoman of the Federal Government's Advisory Council, Monika Schnitzer, also repeated her criticism of early retirement in the
Tagesspiegel
in January : "Anyone who has worked for 45 years should be able to retire without deductions - for example Roofer who can no longer practice this profession in old age.
However, the regulation is mainly used by people who earn average wages and have above-average health,” she explains.
CDU wants to raise retirement age
If there is a possible change of government, the CDU wants to raise the retirement age and adapt it to life expectancy.
However, when it comes to retirement at 63, she has so far kept a low profile with public statements.
It will probably face headwinds from the population and social partners.
A few weeks ago, the chairwoman of the German Social Association, Michaela Enegelmeier, spoke very critically about the CDU plans to Ippen.Media.
We “categorically reject” an increase in the retirement age.
“The retirement age is already being gradually raised and still does not correspond to the actual retirement age of most people.
Instead, they accept discounts because they simply cannot work any longer - often for health reasons.
Any further increase in the standard retirement age therefore means a reduction in pensions.”