Germany Archives - Page 2 of 12 - Pension Policy International

04AugAugust 4, 2023

Germany’s New Pension Reforms: 6 Key Facts to Know

The German pensions system is set for a major overhaul, with a new focus on investments. This move, spearheaded by the traffic-light coalition, is expected to have significant implications for foreigners living and working in Germany. In this article, we will explore the key changes and their impact on expatriates. The current German pensions system is primarily based on a pay-as-you-go model, where current workers contribute to the pensions of retirees. However, with an aging population and increasing life expectancy,...

August 4, 2023

NewsGermany

03AugAugust 3, 2023

Luxembourg: Luxembourg And Germany Sign Amending Protocol To Their Tax Treaty

Luxembourg and Germany signed an amending protocol ("the Protocol") to the Germany - Luxembourg double tax treaty ("DTT") signed in 2012. The Protocol introduces both amendments to the DTT and amendments to the Protocol to the DTT also signed in 2012 (the "2012 protocol") currently in force. The Protocol mainly extends the tolerance threshold for cross-border workers from 19 to 34 days under the DTT, incorporates into the DTT the options taken by the two countries to implement the Multilateral...

August 3, 2023

NewsGermany

02AugAugust 2, 2023

German experts endorse equity-geared public fund for third-pillar reform

The German Council of Economic Experts, a body advising on economy policy, has initiated discussions about a public fund investing mainly in equities with an ‘opt out’ option to replace the Riester-Rente in the third-pillar pension system. Martin Werding, member of the Council of Economic Experts, told IPE that its proposal was for a “publicly managed, heavily equity-based fund as a standard/default product in the third-pillar [pension system]”. Savers are automatically assigned to the public fund if they don’t make use...

August 2, 2023

NewsGermany

20JunJune 20, 2023

Germany set to introduce ‘one of the most modern immigration laws in the world’

What’s going on? Germany's long-debated Skilled Worker Immigration Act aims to make it easier and faster for skilled foreign workers from non-EU countries to come to the country, to help plug the growing labour shortage. The reforms announced in March include loosening Blue Card rules and introducing a points-based immigration system. The urgency for the reforms was made clear in the latest report by the Institute of German Economy (IW) released in April, according to which the skills gap in Germany...

June 20, 2023

NewsGermany, Labor Market, Migration

26MayMay 26, 2023

‘Earned, Not Given’? The Effect of Lowering the Full Retirement Age on Retirement Decisions

By Mathias Dolls & Carla Krolage This paper analyzes behavioral responses to a 2014 reform in the German public pension system that lowered the full retirement age (FRA) of individuals with a long contribution history by up to two years and framed the new FRA as reference age for retirement. Using administrative data from public pension insurance accounts, we first document a substantial bunching response at the FRA exceeding the control group’s bunching by 83%. Second, we show in a...

May 26, 2023

Articles, System SustainabilityGermany, Pension Reform, Public Pensions, Retirement Age

15MayMay 15, 2023

Germany. Retirement Workers: The Solution To The Skills Shortage?

Kurt Marx repairs and maintains heating systems. He started as an apprentice almost 50 years ago. Actually, he could soon retire free of deductions. However, the service technician plans to continue working. Not for financial reasons: he likes the daily challenge of finding technical errors, he says. Above all, Marx wants to keep in touch with people. And he knows how difficult it is for his boss to find staff. “I’m probably not the exception, after all, specialists are...

May 15, 2023

NewsGermany, Labor Market, Retirement Age

02MayMay 2, 2023

Germany has a plan to tackle a rapidly aging workforce: recruiting robots

A robot takeover has long been the stuff of science fiction, but digitalization could be key in solving Germany’s labor shortage crisis, as its population ages. A record 45.9 million people were employed by Europe’s largest economy in the fourth quarter of 2022, the German Federal Statistical Office found. But, while more people than ever have jobs, over half of German companies reported that they were struggling to find skilled workers to fill vacancies, according to German Chambers of Commerce...

May 2, 2023

NewsAging, Germany, Technology

05AprApril 5, 2023

Pension Reforms and Couples’ Labour Supply Decisions

By Hamed Markazi Moghadam, Patrick A. Puhani & Joanna Tyrowicz To determine how wives' and husbands' retirement options affect their spouses' (and their own) labour supply decisions, we exploit (early) retirement cutoffs by way of a regression discontinuity design. Several German pension reforms since the early 1990s have gradually raised women's retirement age from 60 to 65, but also increased ages for several early retirement pathways affecting both sexes. We use German Socio-Economic Panel data for a sample of couples...

April 5, 2023

Articles, Labor Market2023, Germany, Pension Reform, Retirement Age, Retirement Planning

28FebFebruary 28, 2023

Social partner model spreads to small, medium-sized firms in Germany

Social partner model spreads to small, medium-sized firms in Germany The social partner model offering pure defined contribution (DC) plans is spreading mostly among small and medium-sized firms in the chemical sector in Germany, attracting employees who did not show interest in occupational pensions in the past. The German Federation of Chemical Employers’ Associations (BAVC), the social partner that started one of the first pure DC schemes in Germany, is currently seeing demand for social partner models for pensions in the...

February 28, 2023

NewsGermany, Pension design

18JanJanuary 18, 2023

German government to set up foundation with up to €150bn for first-pillar pension reform

The German government plans to build a foundation under public law called Stiftung Generationenkapital to manage up to €150bn in assets in the long term for an equity fund to turn the first-pillar pension system into a partially funded platform based on the Aktienrente concept. The government will start to build the equity pension fund this year with starting capital worth €10bn, setting up a foundation that will “be anchored in law and independent from politics” to stabilise the first-pillar...

January 18, 2023

NewsGermany, Pension design

August 2023

Germany’s New Pension Reforms: 6 Key Facts to Know

Luxembourg: Luxembourg And Germany Sign Amending Protocol To Their Tax Treaty

German experts endorse equity-geared public fund for third-pillar reform

June 2023

Germany set to introduce ‘one of the most modern immigration laws in the world’

May 2023

‘Earned, Not Given’? The Effect of Lowering the Full Retirement Age on Retirement Decisions

Germany. Retirement Workers: The Solution To The Skills Shortage?

Germany has a plan to tackle a rapidly aging workforce: recruiting robots

April 2023

Pension Reforms and Couples’ Labour Supply Decisions

February 2023

Social partner model spreads to small, medium-sized firms in Germany

January 2023

German government to set up foundation with up to €150bn for first-pillar pension reform