Retirement: unemployment, disability, sick leave … The major losers in the decline in the age of departure

This Thursday, April 10, the Court of Auditors submitted to the government its report on the impact of the retirement system on employment. According to the wise men, three categories of workers have been particularly exposed to unemployment or disability with the increase in the legal departure age.

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Lighting the legal retirement age to improve the employment rate of seniors and lighten the pension bill … on paper, the objectives of successive reforms of the pension system are filled with good intentions. But 15 years after the 2010 pension reformwhat about? On the occasion of the presentation of the report of the Court of Auditors on the impacts of the retirement system on competitiveness and employment this Thursday, February 10, Pierre Moscovici first wanted to be reassuring: “Economic studies conclude that the reforms of pension systems have been accompanied by an improvement in the employment rate”started the president of the institution.

For the record, in 2010, François Fillon’s government decided to repel the legal retirement age from 60 to 62 years. Result : “The use of people aged 55 to 60 increases very clearly”notes the report. From 2010 to 2020, the average retirement agent has thus increased by 2.1 years. But beware, that does not necessarily mean that the French have worked two years and one more month. In reality, the duration spent in employment was slightly loweraround a year and seven months on average. A difference of four months which is explained by an increase in the time spent invalidity Or unemployed.

The arduousness of work prevents employment in employment

“However, this effect observed on average hides significant disparities”nuance Pierre Moscovici. And the workers are the first to drink. These employees, often subject to painful businesses, draw the average working time of one year and seven months downwards. According to the Court of Auditors, only two thirds (66%) of this time was actually spent in employment for workers, compared to 85% for intermediate professions and managers. In other words, for an extension of two years of the retirement age, workers – whether qualified or not – worked, on average, only one year and four more months. In question: their highest probability of switching to the no man’s land of the labor market, where we are neither in employment nor in retirement (Neet). Unemployment, sick leave, incapacity … So many subjects suffered which deprive them of a stable income while pushing access to their pension.

Pension of which, arduousness of the work requires, they cannot always benefit fully, since these workers generally live shorter that managers or intermediate professions. Despite careers started earlier and often anticipated retirements, they spend about two years less retired than their white collar counterparts. A gap of life expectancy at 65 that reaches three years for men, two years for women.

A nonsense For Angélique Perroux, president of the Qualiretraite retirement audit specialist: “We ask all employees to work longer, without guaranteeing everyone the possibility of doing it correctly.»» Because for younger workers already in office, working longer is a constraint, of course. But for seniors who struggle to return to employment – because unemployed, stopped or unfit -, this extension of working time is a impasse. They will have to wait, without additional resources, until the liquidation of their rights

Double penalty for women from 55 years old

In addition to workers and more fragile health workers, women Also are among the large losers of the overhaul of the pension system. Admittedly, the reform carried by Eric Woerth allowed an increase in the employment rate of women after 60 years, but it was done most often … part -time. In addition, French women over 55 are more often in employment or retired than men. An in-between rarely linked to disability, as is the case for workers or more fragile workers, but rather “To family or personal constraints»»indicates the report. It must be said that “Most carers are in fact caregivers, especially at this 55-year-old pivot age, where they have to take care of their parents, in addition to their grandchildren», Underlines the president of the Court of Auditors, who pleads for “New measures, to support the most vulnerable seniors but also caregivers, most often women”.

It remains to be seen whether these subjects will be part of the Social Partner Road Leavewhich are currently working on the tracking tracks of the highly contested pension reform of 2023. And the stakes are high! Two years ago, one in five people aged 55 to 64 was neither in employment nor retired, or 1.6 million seniors out of a total of 8.5 million, including “Most undergo their situation”recalls Pierre Moscovici.

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