Gabriel Felbermayr, an economist and one of the five economic advisors since March, advocates for linking the retirement age to life expectancy. Speaking to the Nachrichtenportal T-Online ahead of the government’s pensions commission report presentation on Tuesday, Felbermayr stated, “We should tie the retirement age to life expectancy. If we all live an average of one year longer, we should work a portion of that extra year.” He noted that many OECD countries have already implemented this, adding that “Germany should do the same because it is both fair and logical.”
Furthermore, he suggested changing how annual pension bonuses are calculated. Instead of orienting them based on average wage growth, he proposed linking pension increases to inflation. He explained that this approach saves money, as wages typically increase faster than prices, while ensuring pensioners do not lose purchasing power.
Regarding the idea of integrating civil servants into the statutory pension scheme, the economist dismissed it as an overly vague concept. However, he strongly criticized the high proportion of civil servants in Germany, arguing that it creates a perception of a two-tiered society and subsequently lowers the willingness to embrace necessary reforms. Felbermayr advised that “Germany should take a lesson from Austria-and generally employ significantly fewer state employees.” He argued that although those performing public authority tasks, such as police, judges, and prosecutors, must be civil servants, others do not. For example, teachers and professors do not need to be civil servants, nor do specialized officials in the tax administration.
