The Confederation of German Employers’ Associations (BDA) has raised concerns around the limitations of the government’s plans to encourage people to stay in work longer.

The German government recently approved plans to encourage people to stay in work longer, in an effort to address the falling number of people working within the country.

However, BDA general manager, Steffen Kampeter, argued that while it is right that the ban on pre-employment is being relaxed, making it easier to return to work in old age, this opportunity should not only be open to those who have reached the standard retirement age.

“People who are already entitled to an old-age pension at an earlier age should also be given the chance to go through this door,” he said.

“Unfortunately, the traffic light coalition is counteracting the decision to make it easier for older people to work with new, billion-euro additional costs for pension insurance and thus for contributors. Even higher burdens on employers and employees are acting as a brake on growth.”

Kampeter also argued that the “contradictory approach” of subsidizing early retirement and at the same time creating incentives for longer working hours costs “twice as much and achieves nothing”.

“It would be much more effective and cost-effective to finally abolish early retirement incentives such as the no-deduction ‘pension from 63’,” he added.

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