Dissertation_Paula Aleksandrowicz_12 ... - Jacobs University

Table 2: Crucial pension reforms in Germany since 1972
Year of passing
Regulations
1972 ´flexible retirement age´ at 63 for long-term insured and at 62 for severely handicapped persons
1984 pre-retirement scheme for persons aged 58+ (valid till the end of 1988)
1989 curtailment of all early exit options (with the exception of the early old-age pension for the severely
handicapped) and introduction of pensions deductions from 2001
1989 early retirement scheme in the part-time model
1992 introduction of the partial pension (when earning above a specified threshold before having filled
standard retirement age, the pensioner sees his/her pension reduced by 1 / 3, by half or by 2 / 3)
1996 early retirement scheme in the blocked model
1996 shortened phasing-out periods of options to retire before 65 without permanent benefit reduction
1999 (stopped by the
next coalition),
2000
introduction of pension deductions for premature receipt of the old-age pension for severely handicapped
and of the disability pension
abolition of the disability pension for persons incapable to work in their own profession
closing of the early retirement scheme for new entrants from 2010
2001 stipulation of a cap on the insurance premium at 20% (2020), resp. 22% (2030)
introduction of a basic, means-tested security scheme for older persons
introduction of incentives for voluntary old-age pension provision and for occupational pension schemes
2004 raising of the eligible age for the old-age pension after unemployment or participation in the early
retirement scheme from 60 to 63 years
2007 raising of the retirement age to 67 starting from birth cohort 1947 (to be completed by 2029)
Source: Steffen (2008b); own modifications.
In contrast to the goal of job promotion that motivated later retirement legislation, those
early attempts at lowering the exit age were driven by ideas of work-life balance and
humanisation of working life (Keller 1997: 194). Ebbinghaus (2002: 165-167) recognises in
those early policies an expansion of social rights and an expression of concern for the health
status of burdened occupational groups and of women. Later, he argues, the opportunity to
shed labour and to release unemployment has become an unintended consequence of those
policies and the reason why the social partners and the government held on to it.
Another milestone on the way to early retirement was the introduction of the early
retirement scheme in the blocked model in 1996 (Altersteilzeit; in the following: ATZ or
early retirement scheme). It was a continuation of the less popular pre-retirement scheme
(Vorruhestand) and of the early retirement scheme in the part-time model. It was introduced
as an emergency measure to lower unemployment which had risen to high levels in the
1990s. In that model, the employee may participate in partial retirement for two till five
years, six years, if the firm is covered by a respective collective agreement, and up to ten
years in the public sector. In the ´work phase´, the employee works his/her usual weekly
hours, and in the ´free-time phase´ (after half of the partial retirement period has passed),
he/she still stays an employee of the firm, but enjoys free-time.
The rationale behind the introduction of ATZ had been to stop the former early
retirement practices and to enable a gradual transition to retirement. As most participants in
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