Increase retirement age: IV fights for older employment in Austria!

Increase retirement age: IV fights for older employment in Austria!

The discussion about the statutory pension age and the employment of older workers accept new dimensions. The industrial association (IV) recently rejected allegations by the Chamber of Labor President Renate Anderl, who says that companies would easily separate from older employees. According to the IV, however, companies want to take responsibility and keep older workers, in particular due to the ongoing shortage of skilled workers, as long as possible. Anderl’s demand for a bonus-malus system for companies is criticized by the IV as not expediently because it would bring additional bureaucratic stress.

The IV instead calls for a restriction of the statutory early retirement regulations and sees an increase in the age of pension as essential to keep older people into employment for longer. Currently, 82 percent of the new pensioners will retire because they meet the requirements, not for health reasons. According to AMS, a gradual increase in the statutory retirement age for women has mainly led to additional employment.

statistics to deal with older

The increase in the average pension age since 2000 has taken a sharp look at the employment situation of older workers in Austria. In men, retirement age has increased by 3.9 years to 62.4 years, while women have increased by 3.6 years to 60.4 years. In the past ten years, the increase in both sexes has been three years. The alignment of the retirement age of women to that of men in the coming years should also lead to a longer period of service.

Currently, the employment rates of the 60- to 64-year-olds in Austria are alarming: only 22.8 percent of women (around 76,000 out of 340,000) and 45.6 percent of men (approx. 150,000 out of 330,000) are still employed at work. Forecasts show that the number of women employed by 2030 could increase by 61,000 to 138,000 and that of the men by 36,000 to 186,000. The current older quota in companies is only about 5%. It is particularly worrying that around 30 percent of middle and larger companies that employ more than 20 employees do not employ people over the age of 60.

claims to improve the situation

The Chamber of Labor has proposed various measures to promote the employment of older workers. This includes the introduction of a bonus-malus system to support companies that hire older workers. This system could offer a framework to improve employment opportunities for this age group. A more transparent monitoring of older employment in companies and access to lighter activities are also considered important.

In addition, it is required that legal measures are taken to prevent work -related diseases. Despite the existing exemptions from contributions for employees over the age of 60 who have no recognizable employment effect, there is an enormous potential of 440,000 non-employed people in the age group 60-64 years. Here you still need targeted qualification offensives to activate the "silent reserve".