LONG CAREERS 2023. From the Palais Bourbon, Elisabeth Borne announced that employees who started working before the age of 21 will not have to contribute over the age of 43.
[Mis à jour le 14 février 2023 à 17h08] Tuesday February 14, the Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne spoke to the National Assembly on one of the hot issues of the moment in the context of pension reform: long careers. Government Number 2 has announced the tabling of an amendment that will allow those who have started working at 21 years old of not to contribute more than 43 annuities, as soon as the early retirement age is reached: “Once the early retirement age is reached, the reform does not provide, for long careers, for a contribution period of more than 43 years” a-t she declared. Initially, the text provided, for certain very specific cases, for a contribution period of 44 years. Which shouldn’t happen. An evolution compared to the initial project, which sounds like a second hand extended to the Republicans, after the announcement of the creation of a new threshold at 21 years. As a reminder, the executive will need the help of several dozen deputies The Republicans to pass the text, without having recourse to Article 49.3 of the Constitution.
Through this pension reform, the government promises a new device “adapted, so that no person who started working early is forced to work over 44 years”. But the system of long careers appears to be the main point of contention between the majority and the opposition. So much so that the Prime Minister has already let go of the ballast, by agreeing to grant an early departure at 63, for those who started working before 21 years old. The maximum threshold was until then at 20 years. A concession like an outstretched hand to the Republican deputies, who appear to be the only alliance solution for the majority, with a view to adopting the text without forcing it through with the help of a possible 49.3. This gesture on the part of the number 2 of the government concerns 30,000 people, and could cost between 600 million and 1 billion euros per year
Here is the new retirement age, based on your starting age. Attention, to benefit from this early departure, it is mandatory to have validated at least 5 terms before the age of 20, 4 if you were born at the end of the year:
- 58 years old : if you started working at 14 years old
- 59 years old : if you started working at 15 years old
- 60 years : if you started working at 16 years old
- 61 years old : if you started working at 17 years
- 62 years old : if you started working between 18 and 20 years old
- 63 years old : if you started working before 21 years old
To benefit from early retirement for a long career, you must have started working before 20 years. Two other conditions prevail. First, your pension insurance period must include, all compulsory basic schemes combined, a minimum number of quarters contributed. Also, you must have acquired a minimum number of quarters of retirement insurance at the start of your career. These 2 conditions for the duration of pension insurance vary according to your year of birth, the age from which you started working and the age from which you plan to take early retirement.
The 2023 pension reform slightly modified the system for long careers by introducing a new level, set at 18 years. From now on, if you started working before the age of 18, it will be possible to retire at age 60, four years earlier. As mentioned above, the earlier you started working, the earlier you can retire. On the other hand, women could be among the losers. According to a government impact study, a woman will have to work on average 7 months longer with the reform, compared to 5 additional months for men. And up to 9 months longer for a woman born in 1972, four months longer than a man.
Another potential novelty, to compensate for choppy careers, the periods validated under the old-age insurance for stay-at-home parents (AVPF), in particular due to parental leave, could be part of the long career system. The persons concerned could therefore validate up to four additional quarters in this situation. Periods which would also be counted in the calculation of the increased minimum pension. This should increase the amount of small pensions for some women, forced to put their career on hold to take care of their child(ren).
The national pension fund for local authority employees (CNRACL) is the pension fund for the basic scheme of local government and hospital employees. It is a public administrative institution of the State, it is managed by the Pensions and Solidarity Department of Caisse des Dépôts. Note that the conditions for obtaining a “long career” pension are exactly the same as for other civil servants.