Status: 05/29/2022 01:19 am
The retirement age is currently being gradually raised – to 67 in 2029. Demands for a pension at 70 have now been clearly rejected by Minister of Labor Heil. Only those who live “in a completely different world” can suggest this.
Federal Minister of Labor Hubertus Heil has given a clear rejection of an extension of working life. “What I think is right is the flexible transition to retirement,” Heil told the newspapers of the Funke media group.
“But the idea that you should work in a steel mill or at the supermarket checkout, as a police officer or as a nurse up to the age of 70 can only be had by people who live in a completely different world.” He added: “I think wanting or having to work until 70 is a phantom debate.” This is a discussion “that cannot be reconciled with the reality of life for many people in Germany”.
“That’s not going to change”
The Minister of Labor referred to the determination of the traffic light coalition in their coalition agreement. SPD, Greens and FDP agreed “that we will not raise the statutory retirement age. And that will not change.”
Working longer because of rising prices
Previously, a longer working life had been discussed again. Economists like the Leipzig economist Gunther Schnabl spoke out in favor of a significant increase in the retirement age, also in order to cushion the consequences of rising prices.
DGB Chair Yasmin Fahimi said that raising the retirement age to 70 was “complete nonsense”. “The discussion about retirement at 70 is a silly thing that we get served up every year – sometimes from politics, sometimes from science,” she recently told the Funke newspapers.
Fahimi explained that most are unaware that they could voluntarily work longer hours. “But it must not happen that employers hire or continue to employ pensioners in order to save on social security contributions,” she said. Those who use the flexible pension no longer have to pay contributions to the pension fund or unemployment insurance. “It must not be the case that this model puts younger employees under cost pressure,” she emphasized.
According to the current legal situation, the age limit for the pension will be gradually raised from 65 to 67 years without deductions until 2029.