Germany: the coalition government agrees unambitious ‘flexible retirement’ measures

On 10 November social experts from the three coalition government parties announced that after a year of difficult negotiations they had come to an agreement over ‘flexi-rente’. General opinion is that the set of measures announced come up short of expectations. The government had announced that it would create a real flexible retirement provision that would correspond with workers’ physical and psychological capabilities and wishes. However at the end of the day, the negotiation committee has settled on a set of measures that definitely improves access to part-time retirement for those between the age of 63 and 67 but not much more than that. The new measures should come into force before the summer of 2016.
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Revolution aborted. Stuck between electoral considerations, an ageing population, businesses in search of skilled labor, unions increasingly worried about arduous labor, and workers looking to work longer, previous German governments initially voted in an extension to the retirement age to 67 (c.f. article No. 070221), followed up by a correction in 2014 when the government voted in a retirement age of 63 for those with 45 years of contributions (c.f. article No. 8134). Both solutions were gene

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