The government was forced to revise its copy. Or rather to represent it. After several weeks of being reprimanded by the opposition on his proposal to revalue the most modest pensions which they consider misleading, the Minister of Labor, Olivier Dussopt, clarified the government’s flagship measure on France Inter, Wednesday morning. With the reform, 250,000 current retirees will see their pension reach 85% of the minimum wage, promised the former socialist deputy. Their income should reach just under 1,200 euros gross per month.
According to the minister’s reassessed figures, 125,000 French people will benefit from 100 euros in revaluation. The rest of the contingent targeted by the measure should instead receive a check of between 100 and 70 euros each month. In the future, “40,000 additional people” will pass each year “the milestone of 85% of the Smic thanks to this reform alone”, promised Olivier Dussopt, having restored order to his figures. This wave of revaluation of the small pensions of future and current retirees should cost the State 700 million euros by 2030, according to The echoes.
Workers with “incomplete careers” not concerned
However, not all small pensions are affected by the system. Are excluded “those who have had incomplete careers”, specifies the minister. Only people who have accumulated all the necessary full-time annuities will be able to benefit from this increase in the “contributory minimum” promised by the government. Workers with chopped careers or who have simply worked part-time will not receive anything.
A political choice assumed by Olivier Dussopt at the microphone of France inter. “I’m not telling someone who has worked all their life for 700 euros that their retirement will be higher than their salary. If we follow this logic, we no longer talk about retirement, we talk about minimum old age, is no longer a pension, it is a social minimum that we have raised to 960 euros”, he insisted.
For people with low incomes who have not completed a full career, they can indeed benefit from the minimum old age: the solidarity allowance for the elderly increased by 0.8% on 1 January 2023. Social assistance allows these pensioners to increase their income so that they reach 961 euros gross for a single person and 1,492 euros gross for couples. However, half of people over 65 living alone, with incomes below 960 euros, do not claim this minimum old age. Enough to feed a new form of criticism within the opposition to the government’s pension reform.