This is one of the main arguments of the defenders of the pension reform. And the one advanced by Emmanuel Macron, questioned on this burning issue on January 30: the postponement of the legal age of departure to 64 years in France would be “essential if we compare ourselves in Europe”.
For the executive, it is simply a question of taking into account a demographic reality. “This choice [de reporter l’âge légal, ndlr]it is also the one that all our European neighbors have achieved” in the face of the aging of the population, tried to convince Elisabeth Borne during the presentation of the reform in mid-January.
It’s a fact: France’s legal retirement age is lower than most of our neighbours. While for us it is 62, the official threshold for the opening of pension rights is set at 65 years in Belgium (67 in 2030), 65 years and 10 months in Germany (67 in 2031), 66 and 4 months in Spain ( 67 years in 2027). ) or even 67 years in Italy.
Legal age is not relevant for comparing ages of onset
While these differences are regularly discussed in the pension reform debate, it should be emphasized that the legal age is not the most relevant for comparing the rules from one country to another. In particular because this indicator, which does not have exactly the same meaning from one country to another, generally does not coincide with the age at which Europeans actually retire.
In France, the legal age of 62 is an age limit: impossible to assert your rights earlier (excluding the “long career” system). This is not the case of our neighbors where there are usually several possibilities of early departure under certain conditions of insurance or career duration, age at the beginning of the affiliation or nature of the jobs performed.
In Germany it is possible to retire with full rate from the age of 63 years and 8 months as long as you have contributed for 45 years. German policyholders can also retire at age 63 if they can justify 35 years of contributions, provided they accept a discount of 0.3% per month in advance on their pension.
Similarly, Belgians can leave when they turn 61 if they have contributed for 43 years. For Spaniards, it can be two years before the age of majority (subject to a bonus) for at least 35 years of contribution and in Italy, this same minimum allows employees to claim their pension rights from the age of 58, this as part of an early retirement plan that is currently being tested. So many exceptions that make “legal” age comparisons between countries dangerous.
Average age of exit from the labor market
Given the many exceptions specific to each pension system, it is preferable to look at another indicator to compare the systems with each other: the effective retirement age. In a report published at the beginning of 2022, the Pension Guidance Council (COR) retains two of them. Calculated uniformly by the European Commission, they facilitate international comparisons, the statistics produced by each country not being the most appropriate for comparison exercises given the different methodologies.
The first of these indicators is the average age for exiting the labor market, which corresponds to the age at which “people stop carrying out, or seek, a paid activity, definitively”. According to data from the European Commission* provided by the COR, this age was 62.3 years for men in France in 2019, 63.3 years in Belgium, 63.9 years in Spain, 64.7 years in Germany, 65 .2 years in Italy and 63.3 years on average in the European Union.
For women, the age of cessation of activity in 2019 was 62.2 years in France, 63.5 years in Belgium, 64.6 years in Spain, 64.5 years in Germany and 65.8 years in Italy and 62 4 years on average in the EU. In contrast, it was much lower among our Luxembourg neighbors, both for women (60.1 years) and for men (60.4 years).
In most countries, these ages are going to increase due to various reforms that provide for gradual increases in the legal age or the contribution period, which would continue to have an impact “on the average age for exiting the labor market,” emphasizes Horn.
In France, this age should reach (men and women combined) 64.5 years in France in 2070, in particular due to the extension of the contribution period provided for by the Touraine reform voted in 2014. It would be 65.5 in Germany, only over 66 in Spain, 68.9 in Italy and 67.7 in the Netherlands.
middle age of law
Some people who stop working permanently sometimes have to go through a period of unemployment or inactivity before they can claim their pension. On the contrary, others, within the framework of combined employment and retirement plans, receive their pension while they continue working.
In this sense, it is interesting to observe the average age of liquidation of rights, that is, the age at which workers request their pension. According to the European Commission, in France this age was, for men, 62 years for private sector employees in 2019 compared to 62.5 years in Belgium, 63.1 years in Italy, 63.7 years in Spain and the 64 years of Germany.
For women it reached 62.6 years in France, 63.7 years in Belgium, 63.3 years in Italy, 64.3 years in Spain and 64.4 years in Germany.
The average age of termination in France (62.3 years for men and women combined) is slightly “above the age of exit from the labor market”, and this “due to the existence of early exit plans for certain categories of workers and the (relative) weakness of the employment-retirement mix,” notes the COR. A situation “which is not the most frequent” since “in many countries, the average age of liquidation is lower than the average age of exit from the labor market, in particular for women, due to the continuation of the activity, even part-time, after liquidation”.
Three quarters of the new French retirees who left between the ages of 60 and 64
France also stands out among other countries with a high concentration of retirement ages, as three quarters of new retirees (all schemes combined) pay off their rights between the ages of 60 and 64 in 2019, compared to 51% in Italy. , 54% in Belgium and 56% in Spain.
Furthermore, almost one in five new French retirees retired between the ages of 65 and 69, compared to 34% in Italy, 37% in Belgium and 56% in Spain.
*The average age for leaving the labor market is measured by the European Commission using a cohort simulation model that, “based on the rates of participation in the labor market observed by gender and by age”, estimates the probabilities of entering and leaving of the labor market. results may differ Nationally produced statistics due to different methodologies.
Source: BFM TV
