The number of employed people over the age of 67 has increased again. From the perspective of the left-wing faction, many pensioners have no other choice. There must therefore be an extraordinary pension increase.
The number of pensioners who are employed continues to increase in Germany. Currently, 1,123,000 people in employment nationwide are older than 67 years. The Federal Ministry of Labor published these figures as a result of a parliamentary question from the Left Party in the Bundestag. The “Redaktionsnnetzwerk Deutschland” (RND) first reported on it.
The number is therefore made up of 251,000 pensioners subject to social security contributions and 872,000 pensioners who are only employed on a part-time basis. This means that the vast majority have a so-called 520-euro mini-job.
For comparison: at the end of last year there were 1,066,895 employees of retirement age nationwide – an increase of 15,000 employees compared to the previous year. At the end of 2022, more than 400,000 employees were already over 70 and around 138,000 employees were over 75 years old.
Pension had increased at the beginning of July
Pensions had risen as of July 1st of this year: by 4.39 percent in western Germany and by 5.86 percent in eastern Germany. According to the federal government, the average old-age pension after at least 45 years of insurance is currently 1,543 euros.
“Symptom of a broken pension system”
Too little, criticizes the Left Party. Poor pensions and high prices are actually forcing more and more older people to continue working, warned the Left Party’s East Representative, Sören Pellmann, in an interview with the RND. “For many, this is not a voluntary decision, but rather necessary to get through the month,” he warned, speaking of a “sad development” and a “symptom of a broken pension system.”
Just last week, the chairman of the left-wing faction in the Bundestag, Dietmar Bartsch, called for an extraordinary pension increase of ten percent or at least 200 euros per month – also in view of the persistently high inflation in Germany. Bartsch also called for the pension level to be raised again to “at least 53 percent” – from the current level of around 48 percent.