Retirement of civil servants: Departures for disability explode from these public service agents

In 15 years, retirements for disability have climbed, especially among hospital agents and local communities. A phenomenon linked to the aging of the workforce, but also to trying working conditions and to retirement rules that have become more strict.

Capital video: retirement in the public service: Departures for disability explode among these officials

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Tired before the hour, worn by increasingly difficult working conditions … Many agents of the hospital (FPH) and territorial (FPT), retirement age to leave their post. As proof: between 2010 and 2019, the number of territorial and hospital officials retired for disability has jumped 50%from 5,500 to 8,300 departures per year. Since then, the figure has stabilized but remains at a high level, with around 7,000 annual departures recorded between 2020 and 2023. An increase around 27% since the early 2010s.

A direct effect of seniorization of agents :: “These developments owe a lot to the average aging of these active civil servants since the probability of going into disability increases significantly with age”underlines the Caisse des Dépôts in a study published this Thursday, February 13. But there is no question of reducing this explosion of early departures in the age of civil servants solely. THE Successive pension reformsin particular that of 2010 – carried by the Minister of Labor at the time, Eric Woerth, and who had been one of the most important in France -, there is also something for something. By rejecting the age of opening up retirement rights, the redesign of the pension system had forced certain agents, whose state of health deteriorated, to opt for an early departure for disability.

Especially for category C agents, from the hospital public service And territorialwho are “4 to 5 times more numerous” that those in category A to retire for disability. The reason? “We find in these categories C many posts demanding physically, with sometimes painful working conditions”explains Pierrick Joubert, responsible for statistical studies at the Caisse des Dépôts and co-author of the publication. Nursing aids, garbage collectors or municipal police are thus much more exposed to a Early retirement for disability that their category A counterparts, with more comfortable and often sedentary working conditions.

Retirements for very unequal disability among women

Another striking contrast pointed by the Caisse des Dépôts: the use at the start for disability is good more frequent among women of the territorial public service that among those of the hospital public service. Why such a difference? Everything is based on access to early starting devices. In the FPH, near Eight in ten women In category C can leave earlier thanks to measures such as active category (which allows retirement early departure), long career or family reasons. They therefore often avoid going as far as wear and being forced to start for disability.

But in the FPT, it’s another story. The above-mentioned devices are much less accessible: only four out of ten employees can benefit from it. For all the others, the alternative is brutal: continue to occupy posts demanding physically and psychologically until the official age of retirement-or even beyond to avoid a discount-or be classified in disability. And the gradual increase in the legal retirement of retirement of 62 years old at 64 will not arrange their fate in the years to come.