NEOS, the industrial association and the economically liberal think tank Agenda Austria see their calls for pension reforms confirmed by a new study from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Because people in Austria still retire significantly earlier than the OECD average.
While the average retirement age in 2022 in the OECD area was 64.4 years for men and 63.6 years for women, in Austria men retired at 61.6 years and women at 60.9 years, as shown by the OECD “Pensions at a Glance” study, which was published on Wednesday. show this.
Only in France and Belgium is the negative difference between the regular and effective retirement age for men larger than in this country, where the difference is 3.4 years. In parallel with earlier retirement, life expectancy after leaving the labor market in Austria is 21.6 years for men and 25.5 years for women, which is higher than the OECD average, where men, as expected, are 18.6 years and women live in the pension system for 22.8 years. .
It is therefore only logical that the pension system in Austria will have greater financial burdens. The Alpine Republic is in fourth place with 13 percent of the gross domestic product. Only Italy, Greece and France have higher public expenditure in this area.
NEOS: “The bill cannot be paid”
“Anyone who paid attention to mathematics at school will quickly come to the conclusion that this calculation cannot be made,” criticizes social spokesperson Gerald Loacker of NEOS. If the ailing pension system is not fundamentally reformed quickly, young people will no longer receive a decent pension in thirty to forty years, he warns.
The Agenda Austria problematizes the fact that the increase in the starting age has been ignored by politicians in this country for years. The economically liberal think tank is once again calling for linking the statutory retirement age to life expectancy. In addition, retirees who want to work must be significantly relieved of their duties if they want to continue participating in the work process. The Industry Association is also once again calling for appropriate incentives to ensure that older people stay in work longer.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
