This year just 3,760 women, between the social Ape, Quota 103 and Opzione donna, will be able to leave their jobs before the age of 67 set by law for retirement and the CGIL has a good hand in attacking the government. “Women, the subjects most affected by the Monti-Fornero law, continue to be the most penalized with the choices of the Meloni government, which cashes in on their pensions” accuses the confederal secretary of the CGIL, Lara Ghiglione.
The Social Security Policy Office of the national CGIL, in a study in which the measures of the 2024 budget law are analyzed and in which the data from the monitoring of INPS retirement flows are processed, highlights that “despite the continuous proclamations and many promises from the government, the women exempted from the Fornero Law will be very few”.
In detail, as the head of the confederation’s social security policies, Ezio Cigna, explains, “Quota 103″ is a practically useless measure that will only concern men, because those who complete 41 years of contributions and 62 years of age in 2024 have already completed the women’s option requirements for 2021, i.e. at least 35 years of contributions and 58 years of age. So no woman will have access to the new quota. As regards the 2024 Women’s Option – he continues – according to our estimates it will only concern 250 women: the government had promised to bring the measure back to the previous requirements, but instead managed to make it worse by increasing the age requirement by one year (from 60 years to 61 by 31 December 2023) and the zeroing envisaged in the last budget law. Same thing on Social Ape, where the increase in the required age goes from 63 years to 63 years and 5 months and will impact women in particular. only 3,510 will be able to take advantage of this tool, out of the estimated 9,000 applications overall.”
“Monitoring of retirement flows confirms a marked and constant penalization of women,” claims Lara Ghiglione. “The effects of the social security measures implemented, in particular linked to the elimination of exit flexibility and the cut for public workers, especially affect women, as can be seen from the strong contraction of early pensions paid, which went from 107,520 to 29,556 , according to our estimates. A significant decline of 72.5% between 2022 and 2026,” comments Cigna.
Even from the point of view of the amounts of the allowances, the INPS certifies clear inequalities: if those for men increase slightly, for women they decrease by 17%. As regards early pensions, considering the median value, there is a difference of 353 euros: from 2,111 euros for men to 1,758 euros for women.
The monitoring of retirement flows confirms the gender gap: there are 764,907 new pensions paid by INPS in 2023, 11.07% less than the 865,948 paid in 2022. Of the 101,041 fewer pensions in 2023, women score the largest difference with a minus 69,731, equal to 69% of the total difference. The drop in pensions concerns all pensions, but in particular early retirement – always a mirage for women – which went from 107,520 in 2022 to 76,904 in 2023, 30,616 fewer pensions, equal to approximately 30% less. If the average pension amounts for men increase slightly, reaching 1,140 euros, compared to 1,135 euros in the previous year, for women the monthly allowances decrease, going on average from 963 euros to 950 euros (17% less than median value). “The inequalities are evident and are clearly certified by the INPS data – comments Cigna -. The amount of early pensions, always considering the median value, has a difference of 353 euros, going from 2,111 euros for men to 1,758 euros for women. The increasing economic value of early pensions for women, from 1,720 euros in 2022 to 1,758 euros in 2023, must not be misled. The answer is simple – explains the pension manager of the national CGIL – the result of the choices of this government, which effectively eliminating the women’s option, it caused the number of early pensions with the women’s option to drop in 2023, which, having a lower amount due to the contribution calculation, consequently caused the average amount to rise. The pensions with women’s option paid in 2023 were only 11,255, while in 2022 they were 24,644. Numbers on which the first effects of the Meloni Government’s choices can be seen: up to the age of 59, 2,184 pensions were paid, between the ages of 60 and 61, 5,364, between the ages of 62 and 63, 2,555, between the ages of 64 and 65, 970 and only 152. between 66 and 67 years old.
The Meloni government’s new cuts to the public sector also affect women the most: it is enough to observe the retirement flows to better understand that of the 730 thousand people affected in the next few years by the change in the yields of the early pensions of public employees – members of the Pension Fund for employees of local authorities (CPDEL), to the health workers’ pension fund (CPS) and to the pension fund for teachers of nursery schools and primary schools (CPI) and in favor of members of the pension fund for bailiffs, assistant bailiffs and assistants (CPUG) – will affect many women. In fact, explains Cigna, if for men the early pensions paid in 2023 for public employees (including all public management) weigh only 19%, for women they weigh double, 38%, given that the early public pensions are 29,233, out of a total of 76,904 pensions paid overall. Second Cigna “the executive cut, according to our estimates, is sensational for women: in 2024, considering the quarterly window foreseen for early retirement, the six-monthly window of Quota 103 (2023 version) and the further tightening of Option woman, there will be a drop of at least 30%, bringing early pensions among the public to 20,464 pensions. The effects of the revision of the rates will instead be very serious from 2025 onwards, when all the women who had completed the requirement by 12.31.2023 will have already left. According to our estimates, there will be a 50% reduction in exits in 2025 and 2026 due to the cut (10,232), considering that many women will be forced to work until the age of 67 to escape penalization or a further 3 years if in the healthcare sector ”.
According to Lara Ghiglione “to remove the current inequalities it is necessary to create quality employment for women, therefore stable and full-time, reduce pay gaps and approve an overall reform of the current pension system, which recognizes the different conditions of people, starting from gender ones, and heal the gap due to discontinuous careers and low wages, guaranteeing the recognition of care work carried out within the family, which, unfortunately, also due to poor investments in welfare, is still almost exclusively borne by women ”.