The desire for early retirement is particularly high among baby boomers. This is shown by the most important study on the subject, the ARD magazine Panorama available exclusively. Experts consider the trend alarming.
The trend towards early retirement is unbroken, particularly among the baby boomer cohorts. 68 percent of employees want to retire by the age of 64 at the latest, according to the representative study “lidA – living in work”. ARD–magazine panorama available exclusively. Experts rate this trend as alarming, as it both exacerbates the labor shortage and jeopardizes the ability to finance pensions.
“lidA” is the largest and most important study in this area, as it has been asking several thousand older workers from the so-called baby boomer cohorts since 2011 on how long they want and are able to work. It is carried out by the Bergische Universität Wuppertal.
“Our main finding is that there is a strong early exit culture among baby boomers,” says study leader Martin Hasselhorn that people ask her in astonishment: What, you’re still working?”
30 percent only want to work until the age of 62
The respondents were born between 1959 and 1971. Most respondents stated that they no longer wanted to work at the age of 64, but 30 percent only wanted to work until they were 62. This is consistent with current figures from the Federal Institute for Population Development, which show that in recent years more and more people have been retiring before the standard retirement age and are accepting pension deductions.
Joachim van Beuning also gave up his job as a driving school teacher early on. “At some point you want to enjoy life,” he says. Working longer would have been out of the question for the 64-year-old.
Now he works from time to time, but only when it suits him. For example as a guide on motorcycle tours: “Now I can basically choose what I’m doing. It’s not the boss telling me you have to do it now, but I can now say: Yes, I’ll do it or I won’t do it. And It’s actually a great feeling.”
It is striking that among the younger baby boomers, even more people want to retire early. While 40.1 percent of those born in 1959 still wanted to work until the age of 64, this figure is only around 30 percent among those born in 1965.
“People want to have more free time”
“The most common reason is that people want more free time,” says Hasselhorn. According to the study, this trend is independent of how severe the physical strain on the job was. People who have not had any physically demanding work also want to retire early.
Even a fulfilling job and a good income do not make you want to work longer. The willingness to work long hours is highest in the group with the lowest income. This group wants to work the longest of all income groups. She has by far the shortest life expectancy of all income groups. In this case, working longer seems to be more like “having to work longer”.
Employers fear for skilled workers
Employers are also watching the trend with concern. Hans-Jürgen Vollert manages the family business Vollert Anlagenbau, selling, among other things, shunting robots all over the world. He already lacks the skilled workers. Regulations such as unlimited additional income opportunities for pensioners, which have been in effect since the beginning of the year, do not apply to his employees.
“When we ask: Man, wouldn’t you like to do something for another year or two? Then we often get a no.” And many simply said that it suited them financially. “Free time is just incredibly important.” Only one of his employees had agreed to work longer.
Massive consequences for the pension system
The consequences for the pension system will be massive in the coming years, emphasizes Monika Schnitzer, Chair of the Economic Advisory Council. About a quarter of the federal budget is already flowing into the pension fund as a subsidy.
According to Wirtschaftsweißen Schnitzer, politics must be readjusted: “What is actually planned is to stabilize the contribution rate, to stabilize the pension level, and not to further increase the retirement age. Can that work? Only if the subsidy from the Federal budget comes, is financed by taxes, is getting bigger.”
That is money that will then be missing elsewhere. “The investments in infrastructure, the investments in climate neutrality. The investments that we need for digitization – all the big issues, there will be no more money for that,” Schnitzer fears
Ministry of Labour is relaxed
The Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs is responsible for pensions. When asked how the pension system should be financed in the long term, the ministry replied in writing: “The fact is that the statutory pension insurance system is financially very well positioned. The very stable labor market is decisive for this favorable development, because there are so many employees who are subject to compulsory insurance like never before.”
Apparently, the ministry is not currently planning any new countermeasures against the trend towards early retirement. As a model calculation by the “Stiftung Finanztest” shows, the federal government’s most recent decisions have made early retirement even more attractive.
Incidentally, politicians have long known that there is a need for action. Two years ago, the economics ministry’s scientific advisory board warned the coalition: “The advisory board advises against continuing to maintain the illusion of long-term safe stop lines in the political discussion.”