FRANCE The

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Trends 3. The situation of older workers on the labour market 6 These few figures in Table 4 show us that the oldest persons – that is to say, those in the 51-60 and over-60 categories are poorly represented among jobseekers. And, by comparison with November 2001, their numbers are even in decline. So far as the older unemployed are concerned – that is to say, persons in the 51-60 and over-60 categories – we must note that many of them remain for a long time on the job-seekers’ register, by contrast with the youngest categories. Greater age, then, is a factor that plays a role in long-term unemployment. 4. Policies relating to older workers 4.1. Retirement and pensions7 The aim of the old-age pension scheme is to grant a pension to insured persons who have reached retirement age. The contributions paid and the periods of insurance fulfilled are registered in a personal file: the “contributions record”. All those who pay social security contributions annually receive a statement of their “contributions record”, giving detailed figures relating to the past year. A distinction is made between the periods occasioning payment of contributions, such as periods of professional activity or periods with a replacement income subject to the payment of contributions (sickness, maternity, unemployment) and those where no contributions are payable, such as periods of study or vocational training between 18 and 27 years. These latter serve mainly to complete an incomplete contributions record in the case, for example, of early retirement. The normal retirement age is set by law at 65. However, since 1991, the principle of the “flexibility of retirement age” has been in force in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. We must, then, distinguish between three types of old-age pension: a) The normal old-age pension (granted at 65), which is granted on the following conditions: •having reached the age of sixty-five; •having contributed for at least 120 months to the obligatory old-age pensions scheme, either continuously or by a retroactive purchase. b) The early retirement pension, which can be granted either at 57 or 60 years of age, on the following conditions: •having reached the age of 57 and having contributed for 480 months to the compulsory old-age pension scheme; or •having reached the age of 60 and having contributed for 480 months to the insurance scheme, at least 120 months of this being to the obligatory insurance scheme. “Assimilated” periods, for which no contributions have been paid, may also be counted. In the case of early retirement pensions, the insured person can pursue only negligible or occasional paid activity – that is to say, an activity bringing in an income which, over the year, does not exceed one third of the minimum social wage, which, at 01/01/2002 stood at 430.07 euro. If the person’s income from employment exceeds this ceiling, the pension is automatically reduced by half. c) The deferred old-age pension (granted between 65 and 68) is granted at age 65 on condition of having contributed for at least 120 months to the obligatory old-age insurance scheme. Since the insured person declines his/her right to a pension at 65, the amount is recalculated each month between the 65th and 68th years, using a co-efficient set by government regulation. The calculation of the amount of the pension is made to the index rating 100 of the cost of living, with 1984 as a base year. The sum is then revised upwards to current living standards by a factor of adjustment of 1.301 on 1 June 2002 and adapted to the cost of living by the rate of indexation set by the government Government (index rating 605.60 since 1 June 2002). The old -age pension is made up of two elements: a flat-rate part, granted as a function of the period of insurance and an incomerelated component, granted as a function of the occupational income on which contributions were payable. The amount for a normal contributions record of 40 years stands at: 1984 January 2003 Index rating 100 605.60 Per year (euro?) 489.98 3,860.44 For each missing year, 1/40 of this sum is deducted from the annual pension amount. For the calculation, Luxembourg takes account of insurance contribution years in the countries from which many cross-border workers come, namely Belgium, France or Germany. The income-related part of the pension is calculated as a function of the total occupational income of the insured. This sum is set as index rating 100, adjusted to the base year 1984 and multiplied by 1.85%. Deductions: Sickness insurance contributions are payable by those in receipt of pensions and by pensions funds. Currently, for insured persons and for pension funds, the rate stands at 2.6% of the gross pension. Dependency insurance: Since 1 January 1999, all insured persons contribute 1% of their gross pension for dependency insurance. However, an allowance of one quarter of the minimum social wage or €342.19 is to be taken into consideration in determining the basis on which social security contributions are assessed. For example, for a gross monthly pension of €1,500, the basis on which social security contributions are assessed will be €1,500 minus €342.19, which is to say 1,157.81, and the amount of the contribution will be €115.78. Taxation: A sliding scale of tax deductions from pensions is published annually. Tax is calculated using this scale and as a function of the type of tax payable by the insured person, that is, depending upon their personal situation (isolated, married, with dependants etc…). Minimum and maximum amounts: The pension may not be lower than 90% of the reference amount when the insured has made at least 40 years’ worth of insurance contributions or, in other words, it may not be less than €1,232.08 per month, reduced by 1/40 per missing year between the 20th and 39th year. The maximum amount is equal to 5/6 of five times the reference amount or, in other words, €5,704.06. 6 Le Bulletin luxembourgeois de l’emploi, no. 11 (Luxembourg: Administration de l’emploi, November 2002). 7 J. de Marneffe, Guide des pensions du travailleur frontalier au Luxembourg. Vol. I: la pension de retraite, (Differdange: EURES, February 2002). 124 Spring 2003 | European Employment Observatory Review
4.2 Measures to encourage older workers back into the labour market 8 4.2.1 National Action Plan for Employment9 Luxembourg has attempted to respond to the recommendations made to it within the framework of the National Action Plan for Employment, with regard to reinforcing the measures intended substantially to increase rates of participation in the labour market of workers aged 55 and over, by revising its early retirement and invalidity schemes. Luxembourg has, for example, set up a study which will be discussed in Section 5 of this document. This study should make it possible to assess the quantitative nature of the problem by statistical data, as well as its qualitative nature by targeting employees, employers and those who are, as of now, in the passive benefit programmes. The conclusions of this study will then be discussed in more restricted forums, such as the Observatoire des relations professionnelles et de l’emploi and the Comité permanent de l’emploi, two tripartite institutions. The ultimate aim is to be able to ensure a fit between labour law and the social legislation relating to the problem posed by the need to extend the active lives of workers. 4.2.1.1. The law changing the provisions of pension regimes Up to the present, pension insurance has enabled the insured to delay the start date of their old-age pensions from 65 to 68 years. Insured persons who reached the age of 65 were permitted to continue working until the age of 68. In recognition of this, the level of the pension involved was increased, which allowed the beneficiaries concerned to draw a higher pension when they reached 68. Unfortunately, this measure had very little practical effect, as the persons who might have benefited from it preferred in the end to combine the benefit of a professional activity with their pension. As a result, these provisions were rescinded. As we shall see, a bill which ultimately became law made changes to both the general and the special pensions regimes. It introduced the principle of staged increments according to the beneficiary’s age and contributions record. This measure should encourage people to extend their professional activity. The system of staged income-related pension increments applies to future recipients of old-age or invalidity pensions, on condition that they are at least 55-years-old and have at that point an insurance contributions record of at least 38 years. Let us point out here that a similar provision was already to be found in the modified law of 26 May 1954 governing civil servants’ pensions. Consequently, all insured persons who fulfil these two conditions concomitantly will be able to benefit from this double increment for the years in which they are still working. This consists of a supplementary unit of 0.01% per year of age and a supplementary unit of 0.01% per year of insurance. The total of these units must not, however, exceed a maximum of 2.05%. This measure, which should encourage people to extend their professional activity, was concretely embodied in the Law of 28 June 2002, changing the provisions of the general and special pensions regimes; creating a monthly allowance to compensate for unpaid pension contributions in child-rearing years; modifying the Spring 2003 | European Employment Observatory Review 125 Trends modified law of 29 April 1999, creating a right to a guaranteed minimum income. 10 The provisions of this new law came into force retrospectively, in part on 1 March 2002 and in part on 1 July 2002. 4.2.1.2. Wage agreements in the public sector By the terms of a civil service wage agreement concluded on 29 May 2000, which passed into legislation in the law of 28 July of the same year, a civil servant may be kept in his/her job for a complementary period of a maximum of three years beyond his/her normal age limit, full-time or part-time (on a 25%, 50% or 75% basis). This can only happen, however, if it does not run counter to the interests of the service, a matter to be assessed in each case by the Government meeting in council. The modalities of the practical implementation of this measure were laid down in a draft law on the general reform of the status of civil servants presented to the Chamber of Deputies late in 2001. A new wage agreement, dating from 21 March 2002, specifies further that, in order to respond to the increased needs in human resources in the civil service and in education and to make up for the shortage of qualified personnel, retired civil servants will be able to continue to serve in their respective disciplines up to the age of 68 if they so wish, although the remuneration due to them – including their pension – will not be allowed to exceed their final working income by more than 10%. The two measures were written into the general conditions of civil servants through the Parliamentary Bill reforming those same conditions. This Bill was passed as part of the law of 22 July 2002 modifying and complementing: a) the modified law of 22 June 1963 setting the numerical values for the remuneration of state functionaries, together with the modalities for the implementation of the law of 22 June 1963 establishing the regime for the remuneration of state functionaries; b) the law of 21 December 2001 relating to the State Budget for receipts and expenditure for the financial year 2002. 11 The provisions of the law came into force on 1 September 2002. 4.2.1.3. The new law on incapacity for work and re-employment In its session of 16 November 2001, the Government, meeting in council, approved a draft Bill relating to incapacity for work and reemployment, which had already been announced in the National Action Plan for Employment in 2001. This system of protection is provided for workers who, without being invalids in the legal sense, are incapable of performing the tasks inherent in their latest post. The employee on sickness leave is called for an examination by the social security medical service at the latest in the fourth month after he becomes incapable of work. If, in the assessment of the request for an invalidity pension, the conclusion is reached that the person concerned is not disabled, the medical service refers the file to the company doctor to assess whether there is indeed incapacity to perform the duties associated with his/her latest post. If the tripartite joint commission authorised to make that decision finds workers incapable of performing the duties involved in their latest post, it is the duty of that commission to decide on their redeployment, either internally within the company or externally on 8 Ministère du travail et de l’emploi, Rapport d’activité 2001 (Luxembourg, April 2002). 9 Ministère du travail et de l’emploi, Plan d’action national pour l’emploi. Rapport national 2002, (Luxembourg, 30 April 2002). 10 Doc. Parl. 4887, sess.ord. 2001-2002./Mémorial A 2002-066-0002. 11 Doc. Parl. 4948, sess.ord. 2001-2002./Mémorial A-2002-071-0001.
Page 1 and 2:
Employment & European Social Fund E
Page 3 and 4:
European Employment Observatory Rev
Page 5 and 6:
Table of Contents Policies Overall
Page 7 and 8:
AUSTRIA The programme of the Austri
Page 9 and 10:
FINLAND Essential changes to legisl
Page 11 and 12:
At least one quarter of the members
Page 13 and 14:
in the event of a third and subsequ
Page 15 and 16:
of active labour-market policy, as
Page 17 and 18:
Training Networks Programme The Tra
Page 19 and 20:
Subsequently, the provisions concer
Page 21 and 22:
a strengthening and revitalisation
Page 23 and 24:
workers into the labour market as w
Page 25 and 26:
This reinforced targeting and resul
Page 27 and 28:
BELGIUM The Occupational Immersion
Page 29 and 30:
Agreement on converting 10,000 subs
Page 31 and 32:
outplacement procedure, its duratio
Page 33 and 34:
Integration agreements Another impo
Page 35 and 36:
and local job and volunteering oppo
Page 37 and 38:
FINLAND Preliminary information on
Page 39 and 40:
BELGIUM Harmonisation and simplific
Page 41 and 42:
• Returning migrants Eligibility
Page 43 and 44:
Playing the generation game: an ove
Page 45 and 46:
workers, who have either exited the
Page 47 and 48:
e) Finland’s comprehensive approa
Page 49 and 50:
Compared with the figures for 1997,
Page 51 and 52:
Table 4: Activity quotas by age and
Page 53 and 54:
Table 6: Length of unemployment by
Page 55 and 56:
4Prospects In view of the demograph
Page 57 and 58:
and is exempted from the obligation
Page 59 and 60:
The Government is also addressing t
Page 61 and 62:
permanente, 97-124 Desmet, R. and J
Page 63 and 64:
Table 4: Breakdown by age of older
Page 65 and 66:
Figure 1: Gender gap in the activit
Page 67 and 68:
Figure 5: Effective and statutory r
Page 69 and 70:
3. Recent trends in policies As alr
Page 71 and 72:
3.3 Labour market programmes for el
Page 73 and 74: Figure 1: Population aged 15 and ov
Page 75 and 76: Table 3: Labour market transition r
Page 77 and 78: companies. One of these projects wa
Page 79 and 80: Table 2: Projection of the economic
Page 81 and 82: Table 8: Numbers entering Early Ret
Page 83 and 84: Figure 1: Rate of access to trainin
Page 85 and 86: Germany 1 Introduction As far back
Page 87 and 88: Figure 3: Potentially economically
Page 89 and 90: Figure 5: Take-up of early-retireme
Page 91 and 92: Figure 8: Average amounts paid unde
Page 93 and 94: 64.5% (Hain/Tautz 2001: 365) withou
Page 95 and 96: Table 6: Collectively agreed workin
Page 97 and 98: Strukturbruch und Arbeitsmark-tentw
Page 99 and 100: men (Figure 3). In clear contrast w
Page 101 and 102: Figure 5: Unemployment rates, males
Page 103 and 104: More recent data, provided by Euros
Page 105 and 106: pensions retracted to normal levels
Page 107 and 108: Ireland 1. Introduction This Paper
Page 109 and 110: Table 3: Labour force trends, 1991-
Page 111 and 112: Table 4: Employment by age across s
Page 113 and 114: Occupational pensions There are als
Page 115 and 116: Italy 1. Introduction The EU offici
Page 117 and 118: Table 7: Activity rates (age 55-64)
Page 119 and 120: Table 10: Forecasts of employment r
Page 121 and 122: should take the territorial imbalan
Page 123: 2. Statistical Data 5 Number of pen
Page 127 and 128: 6. Conclusions With regard to keepi
Page 129 and 130: level. No taxes and social premiums
Page 131 and 132: edundancy scheme by employers. The
Page 133 and 134: uittreding: early retirement) schem
Page 135 and 136: Figure 4: Dependency and ageing ind
Page 137 and 138: Figure 8: Percentage of working age
Page 139 and 140: Figure 11: Average age of workers l
Page 141 and 142: Figure 2: percentage change between
Page 143 and 144: Figure 4: Figure 5: 25 20 15 10 0 -
Page 145 and 146: 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 Figu
Page 147 and 148: However, this measure does not cove
Page 149 and 150: Table 1(a): Employment rate, men, 5
Page 151 and 152: Figure 3(b): Main Source of income
Page 153 and 154: 4. Policies to stimulate active age
Page 155 and 156: Appendix Table A1(a): Participation
Page 157 and 158: Venta • Salg • Verkauf • Pvl
show all

FRANCE The

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?