“Goal Achieved” – Early Starter Bonus: 58 percent of recipients are female

According to an initial evaluation of the pension insurance, exactly 38,712 people benefited from the introduction of the early starter bonus in the first nine months. Of these, 22,418 were women and 16,294 were men – and they received almost the same amount. Previously in place exemption from deductions for long-term insurance pensions (“Hackler Regulation”) benefited 99.999 percent of men, Rauch called again in a broadcast for the switch in the course of the 2020 pension reform, which was sharply criticized by the SPÖ and FPÖ at the time.

“Successful example of living social policy”
People who have paid premiums for the pension insurance in at least 25 years, including one year before their 20th birthday, are entitled to the new bonus. They receive a supplement of one euro per month for all premium periods on the basis of a paid job that they acquired before the age of 20.

The Hackler scheme abolished by Black-Green stipulated that employees could retire without withholding after 540 months of contributions. In 2021, 10,826 men but only two women were entitled to this benefit. “The idea of ​​the early starter bonus really caught on,” said Rauch happily, and spoke of a “successful example of social policy in practice: those who really need it benefit.”