Status: 07/11/2021 01:03 p.m.
You are of retirement age, but nationwide more than a million people who are 67 years or older are working. The left-wing faction speaks of a “tragedy” if retirement is not financially secure.
In Germany, more and more people who are 67 years of age or older are still in employment. This emerges from the Federal Government’s response to a request from the Left Party in the Bundestag.
The information relates to data from the Federal Employment Agency and as of September 30, 2020. Accordingly, out of a total of around 38.2 million employees in the Federal Republic of Germany, around 1.039 million were at least 67 years old or older at this point in time.
Most older people have mini-jobs
Of these employees of the so-called generation 67 plus, around 208,000 were in employment subject to social security contributions, and according to the federal government, around 831,000 are marginally employed. For the most part, this includes mini-jobs. 19,000 citizens of the surveyed age group had a part-time job.
The figures from the Federal Employment Agency show that almost 600,000 employees in Germany were 70 years or older on the reporting date. Almost 220,000 employees were in the age group 75 and over and 72,000 employees were even 80 years or older.
In the office or as a cleaner
In Germany, the retirement age is graded depending on the year of birth. People born in 1964 or later generally retire at the age of 67. In 2010 the Bundestag decided to increase the retirement age at that time from 65 to 67 years. The increase has been running since 2012 and should be fully completed in 2029.
The most common activities that older people do include office work, cleaning or driving. Many older people are also active in the areas of building technology as well as warehouse management and delivery.
Not ready for retirement yet
Experts see various reasons for the increasing number of employees over the age of 67, reported the news agency dpa. On the one hand, skilled workers are in great demand on the job market. On the other hand, more and more people are not ready for retirement when they reach the appropriate age. But many older people are also dependent on earning something as a pensioner.
It is precisely this point that left parliamentary group leader Dietmar Bartsch takes up. The request to the federal government goes back to his initiative. “Of course there are employees who work voluntarily into old age, but for many it is the sheer financial hardship of having to earn something,” criticized Bartsch. It is a “tragedy” when people over 70, 75 or 80 years old still have to work.