The legal retirement age, currently set at 62 in France, “seems very low” to ensure the financing of pensions in the face of the expected aging of the population, estimates the OECD in its annual Panorama of pensions published this Wednesday. The land of plenty has to worry about. Certainly, with its “high average disposable income” and its “poverty rate among the lowest” of rich countries, “the French pension system offers good protection” for those over 65, also notes the OECD.
The performance of the Hexagon is all the more remarkable as “the age of exit from the labor market” (60.6 years) “remains among the weakest”, two and a half years lower than the average for members. of economic organization.
An expensive model
But this model costs more than elsewhere (nearly 14% of GDP) and “the pressure of aging on spending will remain acute”, with in particular a life expectancy at age 65 which would increase from 2.5 to 3 years later. ‘by 2050.
In this context, “a minimum age which would be maintained at 62 seems very low”, judges the OECD, which considers that “pushing back the age of exit from the labor market is an essential stake” in order “to improve the prospects financial without harming the level of pensions ”. Even if the progressive extension of the contribution period (up to 43 years in 2035) is qualified as a “powerful measure”, the organization calls for the establishment, as in other countries, of “mechanisms of automatic adjustment ”to modify“ pensions, contributions or retirement age ”according to predefined indicators.
Thus, the report suggests that “the increase in life expectancy should, at least in part, be compensated by the increase in the legal retirement age”.