The pension reform, a door to insecurity for seniors ?

The decline of the legal age from 60 to 62 years has pushed thousands of older workers inactivity and social minima, is the Court of auditors.

In the midst of a debate on the pension reform, this is a report that sounds like a wake-up call for the executive. In a summary proceeding on the purposes of career, made public this Thursday, October 10, (but addressed to the prime minister, Édouard Philippe, July 23), the Court of auditors denounces the risk of insecurity for elderly people excluded from the labour market and the increasing cost for the solidarity.

The topic is sensitive because if the legal age of departure will remain securely fastened to 62 years in the future regime at the points, the questions of a age pivot 64 years of age, or an increase of the contribution period are on the table. Emmanuel Macron has said in Rodez : you will need to work longer. A challenge huge if we rely on the work of more than 60 years old today.

more than 60 years, excluded from the labour market

The head of the State has a point : the employment rate of workers aged 55 to 64 has increased significantly in recent years : it increased from 36.4% in 2003 to 52.3 % in the first quarter of 2019. But it is still below the european average, where it reached 59,1 %. In question, the weakness of the employment rate of 60-64 years old : it is of 32.2 % compared to 45.1 % for the european Union. If the Court highlighted the progress made for the maintenance of 50-59 years in the job, she lambasted the "poor performance" in the field for over 60 years".

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DECRYPTION >> pension Reform : the 60-62 years are they still at work ?

The figure of the average age of retirement (over 62 years of age) often referred to is misleading. It reveals the age at which workers are paid their first pension, and not the one they stop working. However, before to liquidate their retirement, many go through a phase of unemployment which they are struggling to get out because "especially of the reluctance of companies to recruit older workers", tackle Didier Migaud, first president of the Court of auditors, author of the report. Long-term unemployment of older workers has increased : the job seekers over 50 years are on average nearly two times longer than other unemployed : 673 days in the second quarter of 2018, compared to 388 days. And despite a recent improvement, "the situation of the unemployed over 50 years of age has generally deteriorated over the last decade".

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A real poverty trap

The pension reform (in 2010) - which has pushed the legal age starting from 60 to 62 years - been there, done that. "A law which has not given rise to any impact study solid", stresses Didier Migaud. However, "the cost of the support of the senior citizens affected by the measures of postponement of age of the liquidation of pension rights and that are excluded from the labour market, amounted, at the beginning of 2018, to more than 700 million euros under the national solidarity, and nearly 800 million euros for the unemployment insurance plan, which is about 1.5 billion euros per year, the authors write. These failover mechanisms in inactivity, and in generating solidarity income for a significant number of seniors who have not yet reached the age of the liquidation of their pension rights lead to situations of financial fragility, and social concern."

In 2017, approximately 170,000 people were affected. And for them, a vicious circle sets in. "This segment of the population remains rooted in a form of poverty trap, with a monthly standard of living median of 882 €, compared with 1 883 € for all seniors, and even 1 949 € for seniors in employment or retired", is the first president of the Court. The beneficiaries of social minimum benefits who are not yet retired suffer a triple penalty. Their periods of allocation in respect of the AAH (allowance adult with a disability) or the RSA do not give rise to contributions of old-age insurance, they will be penalized permanently, after liquidation of their retirement.

policies promoting the employment of older workers neglected

"The effects of the declining ages of retirement have been the concomitant of the abandonment of the quasi-totality of the devices of the employment policy specifically devoted to seniors, regrets still Didier Migaud. Even if it is true that some of the mechanisms that had been assessed had not produced convincing results, this gap is not less harmful."

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pension Reform Macron

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to Evaluate the devices specific to older workers, experiment an aid to the employer for the CDD senior citizens, analyse their situation in employment, register as a mandatory component of the GPEC (forward management of employment and skills)... The Sages to formulate six recommendations aimed to take better account of their situation, that they are unemployment, or employment. Tracks that the members of the mission seniors, announced by the prime minister to think about the question, should examine it with attention. Remains to be seen whether these recommendations are sufficient to avoid the trappings that are now known.