“dramatic labor shortage”
Mechanical engineers are demanding a pension at the age of 68
04/22/2023 11:39 am
Currently, the age of entry into the state pension is gradually increasing to 67 years. That is still too early for the association of German mechanical and plant engineering companies. Because the industry can no longer find enough workers.
The President of the Association of German Machine and Plant Manufacturers, Karl Haeusgen, advocates a return to the 40-hour week and retirement at 68. “The labor shortage is becoming more dramatic from year to year,” said Haeusgen of the “Augsburger Allgemeine”. “We cannot avoid extending and making working hours more flexible.”
The mechanical and plant engineers could already not fill 14,000 jobs today. The 40-hour week must become the rule again in the metal and electrical industry and the 35-hour week the exception. “The issue will eventually reach the unions. The pain just has to be big enough. The 40-hour week will come.”
The VDMA President also considers longer working lives to be necessary. “I think a pension at 68 is a viable option,” said the mechanical engineering president. At the very least, employees should be able to work until they are 68 if they want to. However, those who do work that is harmful to their health should be able to retire earlier. The workforce potential must be better exploited. The proportion of women in engineering jobs has increased, “but eleven percent is still a miserable number,” said Haeusgen.
Mechanical and plant engineering is one of Germany’s most important branches of industry. The industry employs 1.2 million people, has exported machines for 192 billion euros in recent years and generated 244 billion euros.
One and a half workers per pensioner?
According to a report, the CDU is also working on a new pension concept. According to “Welt” information, a working draft by the CDU specialist commission provides for the retirement age to be linked directly to life expectancy from 2031, if this continues to increase as forecast. “Specifically, the standard retirement age then increases by four months for every year of life gained,” the newspaper quoted from the paper. So far, the age of entry into the state pension has gradually increased to 67 by 2030.
Pension experts point out that life expectancy in Germany has risen by around ten years since 1960 and that the pension period has doubled as a result. In 1960 there was one pensioner for every six employed persons, in 2030 there would only be one and a half employed persons for each pensioner.