Pension at 68: Workers in Germany to pay for the pandemic with poverty in old-age
Three months before federal elections, a German government advisory committee has posed the possibility of raising the pension age to 68. It calls for linking retirement to rising life expectancy and reducing statutory benefits. The committee argues, shocking growing financing problems in the statutory pension insurance system from 2025 are to be expected.
Bottle collectors, a common sight in Germany (Photo: Sascha Kohlmann / CC BY-SA 2.0)
The Scientific Advisory Council of Federal Economics Minister Peter Altmaier (Christian Democratic Union, CDU) published its Proposals for a Reform of Statutory Pension Insurance on June 7. In a press release, the Advisory Council criticises the fact that sharply increasing subsidies from the federal budget are flowing into the pension fund , accounting for more than a quarter of the budget. This number will rise to over 44 percent by 2040 and over 55 percent