As of: February 21, 2024, 8:59 p.m
By: Amy Walker
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Despite resistance from economists and economists, Heil is sticking to his pension plan.
The younger generation could be the ones to suffer.
Berlin – Hubertus Heil, the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs (SPD), plans to present a new pension package in the coming weeks.
He aims to secure the pension level at 48 percent beyond 2025 and to introduce a stock pension.
Heil and his party firmly reject an increase in the retirement age.
He recently said: “That won’t happen with me.”
In his opinion, this would put a burden on the younger generation who are retiring after the baby boomers.
Economist Werding warns against false promises
But eminent economists, including economists, consider this a serious mistake.
They believe that raising the retirement age is inevitable.
Martin Werding, an economist, told the Funke media group newspapers on Wednesday (February 21): “If you raise false expectations by saying you never want to talk about the topic again, you will inevitably have to disappoint people at some point.” .
Labor Minister Hubertus Heil sees a pension increase above the inflation rate as realistic.
© Hannes P Albert/dpa
Werding, a member of the Advisory Council for the Assessment of Overall Economic Development, referred to the council's recommendations to increase the standard retirement age by one year every 20 years.
“Then we will no longer talk about retirement at 67, but at 68 and then at some point at 69. We would only reach a retirement age of 70 around 2090 if life expectancy continues to increase as previously assumed.” He emphasized that this is still the case is a long way off and added: “So you should be careful how you communicate about such proposals, which are actually comparatively moderate.
Because they simply fit the demographic scenarios we are facing.”
The statutory retirement age will be gradually raised to 67 by 2031.
If you want to retire without deductions in 2024, you must be 66 years old.
Raffelhüschen: “We have to prevent what Labor Minister Heil wants”
Bernd Raffelhüschen, an economist, told
Focus
on Wednesday: “We have to prevent what Federal Labor Minister Heil wants: that young people shoulder the burden.”
He called on the younger generation to get their parents on their side to bring about political changes.
He added: “The SPD is only acting here in the interests of the elderly.”
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Raffelhüschen, like his colleagues in the Council of Experts, is calling for a comprehensive pension reform that adjusts the retirement age to life expectancy.
He suggests making early retirement less attractive through higher deductions and significantly increasing the employment rate of women, especially mothers.
“We have to get to it immediately, we really missed it,” said Raffelhüschen.
These measures would not only relieve the burden on the pension fund, but also on the labor market, which is increasingly suffering from a shortage of skilled workers.
The Ifo Institute also supports adapting the retirement age to increasing life expectancy.
Joachim Ragnitz, pension expert at the Ifo Dresden branch, said in January: “Some of our neighboring countries have already decided this – the Netherlands, Sweden and Finland.”
In the Netherlands, for example, the rule applies that if people live three years longer, they have to work two years longer and receive a pension one year longer.
This would mean that the ratio of pensioners to employed people would remain stable at around 40 percent even after 2040 - and not rise to almost 50 percent, as currently forecast.
It could also make sense to no longer link pension increases to wage increases, but rather to the inflation rate, which is usually lower.
This could result in pension spending rising more slowly.
However, the Ifo researchers do not believe it makes sense to include the self-employed and civil servants in the contribution payment, as is often demanded.
This solution would relieve the burden on pension funds in the short term, but in the long term the payouts for these groups would be significantly higher - among other things because they have a longer life expectancy.
With material from Reuters