TRUE OR FAKE: does raising the legal retirement age help to lower the unemployment rate among seniors?

For Emmanuel Macron, if we push back the retirement age, the employment rate of seniors should increase. “Mechanically, the employment rate of seniors will shift with the legal age”did he declare. A situation that has already occurred in France. In 2010, when the retirement age was raised from 60 to 62, the employment rate increased for seniors. Before the pension reform, only 37% of French people over 55 had a job, compared to 54% after the reform. An increase logical because the longer the retirement age, the more active seniors there will be.

But there remains the question of the unemployment rate for seniors. “The extension of working hours, in fact, contributes to the reduction of unemployment among seniors”says Richard Ferrand, President LREM of the National Assembly. But according to the figures, there has been no less unemployment among seniors since the 2010 pension reform. The unemployment rate fell from 4.2% in 2003 to 5.9% in 2020. Indeed, raising the legal retirement age does not prevent employers from laying off their older employees. The seniors have of hard to find a job afterwards. Experts therefore agree on the importance of improving the employability of seniors, in particular through training.