The Jusos, youth wing of the SPD, have sharply criticised a central proposal from the pension commission. Linking the retirement age to general life expectancy is "socially unjust" and goes "at the expense of those who are just starting a life of hard work," Juso leader Philipp Türmer told newspapers of the Funke Mediengruppe on Monday. On this key point, the overall package is "unacceptable."
Life expectancy does not rise equally for everyone, Türmer said. "Someone who starts on a building site at 18 or 19 or toils away in care work will therefore work longer, yet statistically dies considerably earlier." Under the commission's plans, however, those with a much shorter individual life expectancy would also be required to work longer. "That is the opposite of fair, and due to the gradually rising retirement age, it hits young people in particular," the Juso leader said.
Linking the retirement age to the length of a person's working life would, from the Jusos' perspective, have been the right answer. "That is fair and consistent and does not punish those who enter the labour market early and are therefore more exhausted sooner."
A good pension system must protect those who work the hardest, and must not pit generations against one another, Türmer said. The fact that the commission's recommendations continue along this same path hits young people especially hard, those currently doing an apprenticeship or just starting their working lives. Türmer called on the SPD in particular to be measured by "whether the pension system ultimately does justice to those who keep this country running with their physical labour."
The commission's proposals became public over the weekend. Among other things, the retirement age is set to rise gradually over the coming decades, penalty-free early retirement after 45 years of contributions is to be abolished, and a mandatory capital-funded pension is to be introduced. The proposals drew criticism from the opposition as well as from trade unions and economists.
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