We strongly urge all stakeholders to make the financial stability of our welfare state their overriding objective

German Employers’ President Dr Rainer Dulger on the recommendations of the Pensions Commission:

We strongly urge all stakeholders to make the financial stability of our welfare state their overriding objective

Berlin, 22 June 2026. “The Pensions Commission recommends addressing a problem that politicians have repeatedly ignored for decades: demographic change. One thing is clear: even if we were not living through a period of multiple crises, we would still need to discuss how we can all work more and work longer.

I view the experts’ proposals to abolish the early retirement option without benefit reductions positively. Employers have been calling for this for a long time. It is unrealistic policymaking to spend billions on unreduced early retirement while, at the same time, labour and skills shortages persist.

Linking the retirement age to life expectancy is also a long-standing demand of employers. It is a matter of intergenerational fairness and economic common sense. At present, the retirement age increases by six months every three years, whereas the Commission’s model assumes ten years for an increase of six months. We therefore advocate a faster rise in the retirement age.

We are highly critical of the proposed state-funded capital pension scheme. Greater capital funding in old-age provision is, in principle, sensible, but not through compulsion and not through the state. It should be voluntary and provided privately or through occupational pension arrangements. The capital pension scheme would impose an additional burden of more than €40 billion per year on companies and employees. This would mean less take-home pay and make work less attractive. Social security contributions well above 40 per cent would put our business location at risk.

Abolishing mini-jobs would be a mistake. Mini-jobs do not displace full-time positions; rather, they activate labour market potential. They help to make the labour market more flexible.

It is encouraging that the sustainability factor is not only to be reintroduced but also strengthened. However, it would be better to bring it back into force immediately, rather than waiting until the largest birth cohorts have retired. The legislation will need to go significantly further in this respect if the statutory pension insurance system is to remain financially sustainable in the long term.

Overall, we would have liked to see greater ambition.