The Swiss will vote on September 25 a pension reform that plans to raise the retirement age of women from 64 to 65 years to match that of men. After two failures at the polls in 2004 and 2017, the Government has highlighted the urgency of rebalancing the finances of the pension system in the face of increased life expectancy and baby boomer retirements.
The reform refers to the basic life annuities of the retirement system, known as Assurance-vieille et survivals (AVS). Its goal is to increase revenue by increasing VAT to generate an additional 12.4 billion Swiss francs (12.9 billion euros) by 2032.
It also plans to raise the reference retirement age for women by one year, saving CHF4.9 billion over ten years. It must also make pensions more flexible, between 63 and 70 years of age, with the option for workers to progressively reduce their activity.
In “women’s backs”
The reform was approved at the end of 2021 in Parliament after heated debates but the unions and left-wing parties demanded a referendum, collecting “three times more signatures than necessary” in “record time” to trigger a vote in opposition to this reform which, according to them, is being carried out “behind the backs of women”. “This reform will lower pensions that are already very low,” “especially for women who have had children,” explained Gabriela Medici, head of social security for the Swiss Union.
Due to the lack of “affordable” nurseries, but also of structures around school life, such as canteens, which are much less frequent than in other European countries, many women work part-time, which affects their income, contributions and, ultimately, to their pensions. she argues. According to an OECD report, almost 45% of women work part-time in Switzerland, so the earnings gap with men is significantly higher than the average for OECD countries.
In 2020, their pensions were 34.6% lower on average than those of men, according to the Ministry of Economy. However, the retirement of women is not the only point in dispute. The unions also fear that this reform will prolong long-term unemployment, with little chance of finding a job at the end of the career.
intergenerational solidarity
The center and right-wing parties and employers’ organizations believe, on the contrary, that the pension system must be modernized in view of the aging of the population. According to the Federal Statistical Office, Switzerland had 35.6 people over the age of 65 for every 100 workers in 2020, but this ratio will increase to 53.3 in 2050.
“It’s a purely mathematical question,” said Céline Weber, an MP for the Green Liberals (centre), who believes that “it is possible to be a feminist and ‘for’ reform.” “It’s a matter of solidarity with future generations of women,” says this elected official, who supports this reform and would prefer to review supplementary pensions where inequalities are more pronounced.
According to a survey by the press group Tamedia, 55% of those surveyed support increasing women’s pensions. 70% of men are in favor but 58% of women are opposed. Swiss voters will vote separately on VAT and women’s pension, both of which will need to be approved for the reform to pass.
In a report published in January, the OECD had recommended that Switzerland reform its pension system in the face of its aging population, in particular by raising the retirement age for women, but also recommended strengthening childcare structures so that they can participate more in working life.
Source: BFM TV
