Friday 5th November 2021
Increase in weekly working hours
Researcher: Germans have to work more for retirement
The traffic light coalition wants to secure the pension level, from 2022 annual increases are planned. At the same time there will be fewer employed people. The only solution, according to economists: Part-time workers in particular should work more.
In view of the expected pension increase of 5.2 percent in 2022, German economists have spoken out in favor of longer working hours. The additional burden on the contributors could not be financed in any other way, said researchers from the Institute for the German Economy (IW) of “Bild”. “In ten years Germany will have three million fewer workers. We have to compensate for this loss of working hours,” said IW researcher Thomas Obst of the newspaper.
Instead of the current average of 33.9 hours per week, employees should work one to two hours more in future – as is already the case in Switzerland (36.1 hours per week) or in Sweden (35.2 hours per week). In addition, the vacation time must be cut: Instead of the current 43.4 weeks a year, employees in Germany should work 45 weeks in the future. One way to increase weekly working hours is to let part-time workers work more. “Many of them want to work more,” emphasized Obst.
The scientist Alexandra Fedorets from the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) told the newspaper: “An increase in working hours can make sense, but it depends on where exactly. The focus should be on mini-jobbers and part-time workers.” According to estimates for the Pension Insurance Report, salaries for the 21 million retirees in the coming year would increase by 5.2 percent in the west and 5.9 percent in the east. According to the current estimate, there should also be a significant increase in pensions in 2023. In the west, salaries could then rise by 4.9 percent, in the east by 5.7 percent.