Have you finally reached the age limit and are you ready to retire? More and more people are doing it differently. This is good news, in view of the shortage of skilled workers and the aging workforce – and so the traffic light coalition is also discussing what needs to be done to support the so-called silver workers.
The proportion of German workers aged 65 and over almost doubled between 2010 and 2019 and has continued to increase since then. The Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has now presented detailed figures in the recently published “Working Time Report Germany” that have not previously existed. They are based on a representative survey.
Accordingly, 15 out of 1000 employees have actually already reached retirement age. Two thirds of them are men, but the proportion of women is increasing. The average age is 71 years. The silver workers have often worked for the same employer for a long time.
15
of 1000 employees are actually of retirement age.
Almost two-thirds of silver workers state that they continue to work primarily for personal reasons, for example because they find fulfillment in their job. Only for a quarter is the need to earn money the main motive. A good half is self-employed, almost half employed.
The statistical findings in detail
On average, those surveyed work 31.6 hours a week, with a good half working part-time. However, anyone who works less than ten hours a week is not included in the statistics. Most silver workers can help shape their specific working hours, especially those with a high level of education. Most of the respondents work in the service sector and in small businesses.
Satisfaction is exceptionally high: 98 percent state that they are satisfied or very satisfied with the work overall. 90 percent say the same about their work-life balance. 72 percent describe their state of health as good or very good. The most common complaints: back problems and exhaustion. The people who are still working, mainly for financial reasons, are less satisfied and also less healthy than those who have not yet retired for personal reasons.
Don’t let yourself work hard until your spine is gone and you can go to rehab.
Pascal Koberlabor market and social policy spokesman for the FDP parliamentary group
“It is interesting how important the working conditions are for silver workers,” says Beate Müller-Gemmeke, member of the Green Bundestag and labor market politician. “People want to work longer, especially when they are self-determined, and sovereignty over their own time also plays a major role.” She therefore thinks it makes sense to fundamentally think about reducing weekly working hours. “It could be worth it for everyone if people then voluntarily work healthily for longer in old age.”
It is clear, however, that this does not apply equally to the lawyer and the construction worker. “Not every job can be done into old age,” says Müller-Gemmeke. Pascal Kober, labor market and social policy spokesman for the FDP parliamentary group, agrees. “For people in physically demanding jobs, the approach must be not to let them toil until their spine is gone and they can go to rehab. We have to start earlier with further training and retraining so that people can work healthy for a long time in another profession,” he says.
Above all, people want to work longer if they are self-determined.
Beate Müller-Gemmeke, Green Member of the Bundestag
Kober also proposes corrections in employment law, because those who have reached the age limit for retirement but want to continue are often faced with legal hurdles when it comes to employment contracts. “As a coalition, we have to work on labor law, because these are small adjustments with a big impact.”
Kober would also like a flexible age range for retirement based on the Scandinavian model. “That’s where politics should start, instead of always just talking about raising the retirement age.”
In 2017, a law on flexi pensions came into force, which is intended to promote flexible working until the standard retirement age is reached and also to continue working after retirement age. However, it is hardly known and the possibilities are hardly used, as an evaluation by the Federal Statistical Office from October 2022 shows.
In the coalition agreement, the traffic light has set itself the task of making the flexi pension better known. The plan has already been implemented to enable people who are drawing early retirement to earn additional income without an upper limit.
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