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French President Emmanuel Macron is facing one of the biggest tests of his government, that of approving a pension reform that aims to raise the minimum age for retirement from the current 62 to 64 in the country. The project faces strong rejection from public opinion – among other reasons, for paying little attention to a crucial aspect of this transition, improving the job market and combating unemployment among working people over 55 years old.
Currently, only a third of people over 60 have a place in France, and 75% of those aged between 55 and 60. The text that is being analyzed by Parliament introduces an unprecedented device to oblige companies to monitor and disclose data on the percentage of employees in the older age groups. Companies with more than 300 employees must also inform what is being done to hire older people and keep them in good working conditions.
The problem, in the view of Bruno Palier, one of the country’s leading specialists in social protection, is that the measure is not accompanied by public policies to guarantee employability throughout life, contrary to what Scandinavian countries or the neighboring Germany – where the minimum retirement age is already higher.
“The main thing is two things: first, qualification policies, allowing older people to continue training. In France, it is very difficult for employers to give access to courses to employees from the age of 50, while in Germany, industrial employees, for example, continue to graduate at the age of 55 or 60”, explains the director of research. at the Sciences Po European Research Center in Paris. “And the second indispensable element is to improve working conditions, so that it is possible to withstand the physical and psychological difficulties of employment and to be in shape for longer.”
Activities adapted throughout life
Simple measures can make all the difference. In Sweden, where 70% of Swedes aged between 60 and 64 still work, companies have gym rooms or pay for a gym for employees, in addition to an ergonomist on hand to choose the best work chair according to age and function . Changing activities in the last stage of the career, for those that require more physical effort, is also facilitated.
In Finland, a wide awareness campaign for the “national treasures” – the experienced workers – was promoted in the 1990s, with strategies for career plans and tax aid for companies to improve working conditions over the years.
In France, on the contrary, the focus was on highlighting the difficulties related to work, for which the solution was to make it possible to leave the position early – freeing it up for a younger employee.
“What we did in France was put pressure on employees and when we thought they were too stressed and done, we let them go. That’s why French companies continue to fire older people: because they think they’re too expensive and unproductive, since they are exhausted”, emphasizes the author of works such as Réformer les retraites (Reforming pensions, in free translation). “We do not seek to maintain their productive capacity”, says Palier, who has already been a guest professor at renowned institutions such as Harvard and Stockholm universities.
“Early Discard”
One of the measures envisaged by the reform project facilitates, precisely, the early “dismissal”, by expanding the opening of negotiations between the worker and the company two years before the date foreseen for retirement. A common solution is for him to maintain his salary , but only have to work part-time.The message, behind it, is merciless: older people get in the way more than they help.
“The situation is very binary in France: either you are employed and are pressured all the time, or you are discarded and find yourself without a job. That’s why the French don’t get the message when the government says they’re going to have to work longer,” observes the researcher. “A large proportion of those over 55 no longer have a job and, even so, they tell us that we will need to work more. And the other part, the one third of those aged between 60 and 62 and who are still employed, say : ‘but I can’t take it anymore!’, he says.
Bruno Palier says that one of the most effective ways to keep workers motivated, even after decades at the same company, is to horizontalize the management structure. In Nordic countries, but also in California in the United States, a large number of decisions take place within teams, not top-down. Employees thus maintain the feeling of appreciation that is so important for them to remain active.
“But France kept the old vertical structure. People are losing the meaning of work, they no longer have recognition or pleasure. And together, more physical and mental health problems appear, resulting from work”, observes the specialist.
Forecasts by the Pensions Guidance Council (COR, for its acronym in French) warn of the danger of this trend: today, 17 million French retirees are financed by 28.8 million assets, but in 2050 the number of retirees will rise to 23 million, with the share of assets similar to the current one.