Employees receive significantly lower salaries in old age than civil servants. Pensions expert Bert Rürup explains why this is the case, how Austria has managed to correct inequalities and why Germany will certainly not follow suit.
Interviewed by
Henrik Munsberg
Few people are as familiar with old-age security in Germany and Austria as the former boss of the Economic Wise Men, Bert Rürup, 79. Of course, he is also familiar with the envious look employees have on the pensions of civil servants. After 40 years of service in Germany, civil servants receive up to 71.75 percent of the gross salary that they received during the last two years of service before retirement. For employees, on the other hand, the only thing that counts is what you have paid in on average over your entire insurance period. Rürup also advised the Austrian federal government. In 2004, a groundbreaking reform was dared there that united both professional groups in one system.