From: The labor market for older workers in GermanyDer Arbeitsmarkt für ältere Arbeitnehmer in Deutschland
Unemployment compensation | |
2004 | Lower duration of unemployment benefit I (UB I) for older workers (from a maximum of 32 months to a maximum of 18 months) and tightening of entitlement criteria regarding an individual’s previous employment record; became first effective in 2006 |
2005 | Integration of social assistance and unemployment assistance into the new means-tested unemployment benefit II which replaces social assistance for all “employable” people |
2008 | Longer duration of unemployment benefits for older workers (from a maximum of 18 months to a maximum of 24 months) |
Special labor market programs for older workers | |
2003 | In-work benefits (Entgeltsicherung) to unemployed people aged 50 years and older who are entitled to UB I |
2003 | Reduced social security contributions on “marginal” employment (“mini-” and “midi-jobs”) |
2004 | Temporary wage subsidies (Eingliederungszuschuss) to firms employing people with severe placement difficulties including old age; integration of special subsidy for older workers into general temporary wage subsidy for “hard-to-place” people |
2007 | Re-introduction of a special subsidy for unemployed people aged 50 years and older and introduction of a wage-subsidy voucher for older people |
Reforms of public pension regulations | |
1992 | Introduction of deduction factors for early retirement (0.3% per month before the legal retirement age), fully phased in by 1999 for young birth cohorts |
1994 | Lengthening of regulation which imply that unemployed being 58 or older have not to be at the disposal of unemployment agencies and are not counted as unemployed (until 2000) |
1997 | Raising of retirement age for long-term insured from 63 to 65 years (stepwise 2000 until 2001) and for women from 60 to 65 years (stepwise 2000 until 2004) |
1999 | Raising of retirement age for disabled (stepwise beginning in 2000) |
2000 | Lengthening of regulation which imply that unemployed being 58 or older have not to be at the disposal of unemployed agencies and are not counted as unemployed (until 2005) |
2001 | Reform of pensions for persons who are not capable for work Introduction of subsidy of a supplementary capital-based private pension (“Riesterrente”) |
2005 | Lengthening of regulation which imply that unemployed being 58 or older have not to be at the disposal of unemployed agencies and are not counted as unemployed (until 2007) |
2008 | Raising of general retirement age from 65 to 67 years (stepwise from 2012 until 2029) |
2009 | End of public subsidies for partial retirement schemes |
2014 | Early retirement at 63 for long-term insured people without pension deductions |