Only 44% of treatments for women
In 2021, INPS paid treatment to 15.5 million retirees, of which 7.4 were men and 8.1 million were women (equal to 52%) for a total of 305 billion euros of checks disbursed, of which however only 44% to retirees. The dossier focuses a lot on the issue of the gender gap. Also because last year the difference between men and women in retirement income was over 6 thousand euros. The report notes that this gap derives from the clear prevalence of men in early retirement pensions, ie those of a higher amount, while women prevail in survivors’ and old-age pensions. The INPS claims that the pension gap is attributable to hourly wages (difference of 17% in the private sector), working time (part time) and contribution seniority (difference of 40% in 2001 which dropped to 25% in 2021). Overall, the pension allowances of males are 37% higher than those of females.
Pension replacement rate
In order to measure the purchasing power of retirees and the effectiveness of the social security system in providing retirement income to replace employment, the experts estimated the pension replacement rate. That for those who withdrew from the labor market after 2017 is equal, on average, to 75% of the maximum salary received in the last 10 years of activity, with a difference of 2 percentage points between males and females. The dossier states that in the international comparison between EU countries this is a high value, lower only than Greece, Spain and Portugal.
Almost 40% with gross income under 12 thousand euros
Part of the report is devoted to “poor pensions”. In 2021, 40% of pensioners received a gross pension income of less than 12 thousand euros per year, net of the minimum supplements associated with the benefits, the various forms of accompanying allowances, the fourteenth month’s salary and the social increases associated with the benefits: taking these “items” into account, the share of pensioners with an annual income of less than 12 thousand euros drops to 32%. An analysis of the twentieth percentile of pension income (up to € 10,000 in 2021) shows that only 15% of pensioners in this bracket receive a social allowance and 26% a survivor’s pension.
The knot of outgoing flexibility
The report reminds us that Quota 102 will run out at the end of the year, which has taken the place of Quota 100 since the beginning of 2022. in full version. Pending any developments in the confrontation between the government and trade unions, which has been stopped since mid-February, INPS experts have estimated the impact on public accounts of three hypotheses on the table to make the pension system more flexible: option with contribution recalculation check; early exit with penalty; advance payment of the contribution amount of the check only (“Tridico proposal”). The first possible early exit channel taken into consideration rests on the fully contributory recalculation of the allowance (hypothesis preferred by the government). This proposal would allow workers who are still partially “paid” with 64 years of age and at least 35 years of contributory seniority to leave, on condition that they have accrued an amount of treatment equal to at least 2.2 times the social allowance. This option, as mentioned, provides for the calculation of the entire pension according to the contribution method. For workers belonging to the pure contribution system, on the other hand, the threshold is reduced from 2.8 to 2.2 times the social allowance. The starting cost would be almost 900 million in the first year and then rise to 2 billion in 2024 and over 3.7 billion in 2029. At that point the impact on public finances would begin to reduce.
1 billion immediately necessary for 3% penalties
The second possibility assessed by the INPS experts is that which provides for a 3% penalty for each year in advance of the “old age” threshold (67 years) of the retirement portion of the retirement pension for departures aged 64 and not less than 35 years of payments on condition of having accrued a pension allowance equal to at least 2.2 times the social allowance. A solution that would absorb almost a billion in 2023. The cost would then rise to 2.3 billion in 2024 to reach over 5 billion in 2029.