Social Security at the Dawn of the 21st Century: Topical Issues and New Approaches by Eugene Bardach

Author:Eugene Bardach [Bardach, Eugene]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781351489584
Goodreads: 35865367
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2017-07-12T00:00:00+00:00

Moves to limit access to early retirement, however, have not been universal. The pressures which initially prompted the use of early retirement still exist in many countries and as a result, early retirement provisions are being maintained or expanded. In particular, in Central and Eastern Europe, early retirement is still being used in many countries as a remedy for long-term unemployment or to compensate workers for harsh working conditions. In other instances, targeted or short-term schemes are being introduced as with the French scheme for medical practitioners or the Swiss scheme whereby for a period of two years from 1997, support payments will be available to employers who finance the voluntary early retirement of an employee and replace that employee with an unemployed person. Switzerland has also introduced more generally the payment of an early retirement pension by one or two years prior to normal entitlement age matched by an actuarial reduction in the pension amount for each year of early payment.

Where increases in retirement age have been politically unpopular, making early retirement more available has sometimes been a necessary compromise. For example, in the Czech Republic, in order to gain Parliamentary support for the proposed increase in retirement ages, provisions for early retirement three years prior to retirement age were also introduced. This period will gradually increase to five years by 2006 to keep pace with the increase in retirement for men from age 60 to 62 between 1996 and 2006.

Unemployment benefits. In response to high unemployment levels, particularly of older workers, a number of countries allow older unemployed people earlier access to age pensions (sometimes called unemployment pensions). These arrangements may be explicit or implicit.

An example can be seen in Austria where the old-age pension is available five years before the usual pension entitlement age after one year of unemployment or sickness. Other countries with specific early retirement provisions for unemployed workers include Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Hungary, Romania, the Russian Federation, Slovenia, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

A related approach is to provide older unemployed workers more generous access to unemployment payments than younger unemployed people. For example, in France full benefits are paid to older unemployed workers undergoing a second period of unemployment while other workers have their unemployment benefits reduced during their second period of unemployment. Similarly, in New Zealand, the 55 Plus Benefit, introduced in 1992, is available to unemployed workers aged 55 or over. This benefit is in most respects the same as the unemployment benefit but the work test is partly waived.

There have been a number of instances in recent years where access to these schemes is being tightened.

In 1997, Finland increased the lower age limit for continuous unemployment allowance from 55 to 57 which means that only unemployed workers over age 57 will receive unemployment benefits beyond the standard 500 day payment period.

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