Beginning of the consultations on retirement Monday, October 10 therefore, and if the government pushes back, as it wishes, the legal retirement age, to raise it from 62 to 65, it cannot save money. a discussion on the subject and concrete measures to improve the employment rate of seniors.
On the glass-half-full side, the situation has clearly improved in 20 years. The employment rate of 55-64 has gained almost 20 points in 20 years, to reach 56.1% today. But it becomes problematic when you look at the 60-64 year olds, where the employment rate drops to less than 34%, according to a study by Dares. The situation is different with our European neighbours. Even if the European comparisons date a little, from 2019, before the Covid. In Sweden, the employment rate was 70% in 2019 among 60-64 year olds, almost 62% in Germany.
Coming back to France, according to the Pensions Guidance Council (COR), almost a third of men and women aged 61 are neither employed nor retired. These seniors, too young to liquidate their rights and receive their pension, are no longer in employment. They are either unemployed, on disability, or recipient of a social minimum.
To improve the current situation, everyone must do their part. Companies must keep their employees in employment in good conditions, not push them out. Do not refuse to hire them because they cost more, design an appropriate career path, in short get out of this schizophrenia which, on the one hand, requires everyone to work longer without creating the conditions.
A few years ago, the idea was launched of a kind of index on the employment of seniors, like there is on gender equality, to oblige companies to give a place to their most aged. But this initiative received an icy reception. Too bad that once again, this issue of the employment of seniors is only the subject of a quick consultation without debates or in-depth transformations.