Olaf Scholz thinks there are too many early retirees. The pension: a dusty construct? t-online readers discuss.
Whether retirement at 63, 65, 67 or even 70: The topic is a political and social long-running issue, which is also being discussed more and more often due to demographic developments. The t-online readers are also concerned with the pension issue.
“You should be happy that there are people like us”
Peter closer has been working in a three-shift system for 25 years – “which is not exactly healthy,” as he writes. Some days he works eight hours without a break to keep production running. “That means pure stress,” he lets us know.
On these stressful days, the 47-year-old would like those who are demanding a later retirement age to have to work in shifts, on construction sites or underground. He’s sure they don’t.
“They don’t stand outside on the construction site when it’s hot, cold, wet or windy and have to do physical work or work underground with respiratory protection. All work where overtime is worked if necessary, where 50 or 60 hours a week is normal.
I’m sure such people couldn’t do these jobs even for a year. But they require others to do them for 50 or more years. But you know that we keep the economy alive with our work performance and give up our health to enable its prosperity. They should be happy that there are people like us who can last 45 to 50 years.”
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“Retirement age must be adjusted to life expectancy”
Anselm Fehmer replies: “We are having fewer and fewer children, are getting older, but want to retire earlier and earlier. In addition, there are often longer training periods. The retirement age urgently needs to be adjusted to the increasing life expectancy.”
“Longing to reach retirement age as soon as possible”
“As long as companies do not offer more attractive working time models for older employees than they have in the past, the ‘longing’ of employees to retire as quickly as possible will not change,” believes Eleanor victory. “Many drop out because they can’t cope (any longer) with the long-term demands or they don’t want to expose themselves to them longer than necessary.”
She calls on companies not only to think about young people. There are numerous promotion and motivation concepts for him, “but almost no concepts for older employees to keep them in the company”. The t-online reader would also appreciate it if seniors who, despite having reached retirement age, would still like to work or would like to work again, were offered attractive conditions, for example in relation to working hours, ergonomics and management.
“Just reducing and extending working hours are not concepts”
Quite a few t-online readers see the great relevance of the topic of pensions and call for a general rethink.
Sven Jehle writes: “For decades it has been clear that when people born in the 1960s retire, there will be high financial requirements for the pension fund. No politician, no matter what his persuasion, had any constructive ideas for closing this gap. Only reducing and extending working hours are not concepts.”
“The current pension system will no longer work in the future”
“Pensions will become a huge social problem if the ministries responsible for them don’t finally act,” says Kerstin Current. “The current pension system will no longer work in the future because the number of contributors will decrease and the number of pension recipients will increase.
An adaptation of the pension system to the demographic situation is therefore urgently required,” says the t-online reader and initially proposes a way that she considers the right and fair one: “More contributions by all working citizens, including civil servants and the self-employed , obligatory to pay into the pension fund.”
