PENSION REFORM. The Minister of Labor Olivier Dussopt presented this Wednesday, January 23 the Minutes of the Council of Ministers of the day. On the program: starting age, long careers, index of seniors and minimum retirement. The summary.
[Mis à jour le 23 janvier 2023 à 12h37] This Monday, January 23, 2023, the presentation of the pension reform project was held in the Council of Ministers. In the process, the Minister of Labor Olivier Dussopt returned to the main points of this text during a press conference and in particular the legal retirement age. On this point, the government has been firm, going back to the age of 64 “would be give up the return to equilibrium“. For the time being, no negotiation seems possible on this starting age, a measure which is nevertheless one of the most decried. This denier also addressed the question of the minimum pension : “1,800,000 people, i.e. more than 10% of current retirees will benefit from a revaluation of up to up to 100 euros“, is around €1,200 gross monthly.
Also, the Minister wished to emphasize the creation of the famous senior employment index. This system should make it possible to “measure the involvement of companies with more than 300 employees for job retention and recruitment with an obligation to advertise”, he indicated. the no respectwhen a company fails to publish the index, will result in a financial penalty. Attention, if the refusal to publish the index is sanctioned, no sanction is foreseen for a lack of result. In other words, if the employment of seniors does not progress in a company, the latter will not be sanctioned for all that. Finally, regarding the contribution periodOlivier Dussopt opened the debate concerning arrangements for the standardization of the number of annuities, to allow more justice between the French people concerned by the long career scheme and who will have to contribute 44 years, against 43 years for the others: ” We wanted to make sure that the gaps are as small as possible. We reduce the gap between those who started early and late.”
The pension reform should indeed be integrated into a future bill on the amending financing of Social Security (PLFRSS). An asset for the government which should thus be able to benefit from unlimited recourse to 49.3 as is the norm in the texts concerning the budget. Normally, this famous 49.3 can only be used once per parliamentary session. With such a device, the government will have the possibility of drawing the famous 49.3 on the various points of friction, from the postponement of the legal retirement age to the arduousness, through long careers, even if, a priori , he shouldn’t need it, the Republicans seeming rather ready to cooperate despite some reluctance.
On Thursday January 19, we also learned that the pension reform project presented on January 10 by Elisabeth Borne was perhaps not yet finalized, as evidenced by these revelations from the World : “The government has transmitted to the Council of State a second version of the bill relating to the reform of pensions. The text is longer than the first version, with twenty articles, against ten initially”. We also learned that details could be added to the text concerning the financial balances of the different branches of Social Security. The deficit could be widened by 400 million euros, due to new support measures as part of the 2023 pension reform.here are the 8 points to remember concerning the pension reform project:
- Increase in the legal retirement age from 62 to 64 years old
- lengthening of the contribution period at 43
- Creation of a minimum pension at 85% of minimum wage : nearly 1,200 euros
- New device on long careers (early departure)
- Better consideration of arduousness (extension of C2P)
- Towards an abolition of certain special diets (RATP, IEG)
- Creating a “index of seniors” with sanctions in case of non-compliance
- The age ofcancellation of the next to stay at 67 years old
The government wants to implement this new 2023 pension reform to ensure the survival of the pay-as-you-go pension system dear to France. The executive relies first of all on theincreased life expectancy. We live longer, so we can work a few extra years. the number of retirees, it is growing faster than the number of assets. And this figure is expected to increase steadily in the years to come. 16.8 million retirees in 2020, and up to 23 million in 2070. A big acceleration should be felt around 2040 with the retirement of the baby-boom generations. Problem, these are the assets that contribute to pay pensions for retirees. Hence the wish for the government to “rebalance” this pension system which requires greater funding.
After the transition from 60 to 62 in 2010 (Woerth reform), Emmanuel Macron wishes to move to 64 years old with an acceleration of the contribution period, which will reach 43 years and 172 quarters. It’s here generation 1968 who will be the first to have to wait until age 64 to benefit from a full pension. Are you concerned? Here is the new legal starting age, based on your year of birth:
- Generation 1961 : 62 years and 3 months, in 2023
- Generation 1962 : 62 years and 6 months, in 2024
- Generation 1963 : 62 years and 9 months, in 2025
- Generation 1964 : 63 years old in 2026
- Generation 1965 : 63 years and 3 months, in 2027
- Generation 1966 : 63 years and 6 months, in 2028
- Generation 1967 : 63 years and 9 months, in 2029
- Generation 1968 : 64 years in 2030
The “long career” system already allows those who started working young to retire earlier. According to government announcements during the presentation of the pension reform on Tuesday, January 10, those who have had a long career will still be able to retire before age 64. In detail, if you have validated at least five quarters before age 20 (with 44 years of contribution and 172 quarters), it will be possible to retire at:
- 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
For more than three years, the abolition of special diets has been in the government’s small papers. Faced with the rumble of contributors to special plans, the latter has reviewed its copy. It plans to prohibit access to special schemes for new hires in the trades concerned. In other words, the old ones will keep their special regime, but the new ones will no longer have access to it. The limit is as follows: to remain attached to his special scheme, the employee must be less than 17 years from retirement, in 2020. This is the famous “grandfather clause“. Please note that the increase in the legal retirement age should start a little later for these special schemes. The 2010 Woerth reform, which raised the legal retirement age from 60 to 62, will only be fully effective in 2024. The companies employing these employees could therefore be forced to establish a period of convergence with the other schemes.
With the 2023 pension reform, policyholders linked to a special scheme will retain their benefits, for the vast majority if they were born before January 1, 1975. For employees of the RATP, SNCF, Bank of France, IEG and the state workersbefore the January 1, 1980. For the miners and drillersbefore the January 1, 1982. The Paris Opera dancersthem Dockersand the French comedy them will not be impacted. This special diet should not move one iota. It should be noted that in the public service, the advantageous method of calculating the retirement pension, which consists of basing it on the last six months of the career (often the best paid) against the best 25 years for the private sector, should be kept. .
Thing promised, thing due? Emmanuel Macron had made it one of his campaign promises. From September 1, 2023, the minimum pension will indeed increase, according to government announcements this Tuesday, January 10, to around 1,200 euros per month for new retirees, i.e. 85% of the pension. minimum wage. To be able to respect this principle, the minimum pension will now be indexed to the minimum wage and no longer to inflation. Employees, craftsmen-traders and farmers will be concerned. What about people who are already retired? Will they see their pension increase? The government has, on this point, referred to new consultations with the unions and the political groups.
Hardship at work is one of the government’s priorities in this 2023 pension reform. In this logic, access to C2P (prevention professional account) should be extended to new employees, more than 60,000 more per year, the government said on Tuesday. This system makes it possible to accumulate points so as to leave earlier in retirement, according to six criteria of arduousness: night work, work in alternating successive shifts, repetitive work, activities in a hyperbaric environment (under water, nuclear reactor containment), extreme temperatures or even noise.
The carrying of heavy loads, painful postures and mechanical vibrations, three criteria of hardship at work which had been abandoned in 2017, should not be reinstated as the unions would have liked. Nevertheless, the employees concerned will be offered “reinforced medical monitoring” from mid-career. On medical advice, these same employees may obtain an adaptation of their position and/or working time. They will also be able to benefit from enhanced access to retraining. In the most critical cases, an early departure from the age of 62 may finally be offered to them.
Finally, “a prevention and professional wear and tear fund dedicated to public service caregivers” will be created, as announced by the Minister of Labor Olivier Dussopt, Monday January 23, 2023 during the Report of the Council of Ministers. The amount of this fund will reach 100 million euros per year.