Ahen the pension reform, wanted by Emmanuel Macron and adopted without a vote by the National Assembly, remains at the heart of social protest in France, it is useful to compare it to the pension system in Québec.
Quebecers have one of the most redistributive tax systems in the world – beyond 100,000 euros of gross annual salary, we pay 60% of our income in taxes and duties; at the same time, the pension scheme is individual and actuarial.
First, the charters of rights and freedoms of Canada and Quebec prohibit any discrimination on age. This means that from the age of 16, the legal working age, each individual works as long as they want, until they are 55 or 70, or even longer.
A solid actuarial calculation
Employee and employer contributions, equally regardless of the workplace, both in the public and private sectors, are invested in the national and international economy by a pension committee which manages the funds of investment. Their members are often elected by employees.
The Quebec retirement system is simple: everyone starts working when they want and retires when they want. There is no rule on the age of departure, or on the minimum or maximum number of terms worked.
Each month of work, the employee-employer contributions are paid into the employee’s pension plan, which receives a detailed report each year on the state of his pension plan, and on the benefit he will receive depending the chosen retirement age, according to the actuarial calculation.
This actuarial calculation is sound because it takes into account demographic and economic changes. The pension schemes are also regularly audited by the government to ensure that they are at least 95% reliable, which means that even in the worst-case scenario, the scheme will be able to honor 95% of its commitments and index the benefits. to inflation.
What is interesting here is that the Quebec system abolishes inequalities in a natural and systematic way. The reason for this is that the earlier in life one contributes, the faster the interest accrues. In clear terms, a young person who has had a short education (labourer, nurse, plumber, mason, etc.) contributes seven to eight years earlier than engineers, lawyers, doctors, college or university professors.
One or two years of comfort
This is all the more true since in the Grandes Ecoles, a student does not receive any salary from the State, only scholarships which are not taken into account in the pension scheme. And as it is the contributions paid early in life that pay the most in retirement, individuals who have studied for a short time have a retirement pension as high as those who have studied for a long time, and this up to the age of 55. . It is only from a retirement age of 55 or 60 that longer studies produce a higher pension.
You have 36.63% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.