Towards a New Role for Occupational Pensions in Continental Europe: Elements and Techniques of Solidarity Used within Funded Occupational Pension Schemes

2002 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yves Stevens ◽  
Gerhard Gieselink ◽  
Bea Van Buggenhout
Keyword(s):  
European Society ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Pension Reform ◽  
Occupational Pension ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Private Pensions ◽  
Occupational Pensions ◽  
Pension Schemes ◽  
Financial Issues

‘At first glance, it may seem incongruous to talk of private pensions in terms of equity. We do not for example, question whether champagne consumption is fairly distributed.’ This paper is about the debate on occupational pensions in continental Europe. Instead of looking at the financial issues, it looks at the elements of social protection and solidarity within occupational pensions. Occupational pensions are of increasing importance for continental European society. This is indicated by a so-called ‘new pension order’ that is predominantly influenced by the Anglo-Saxon vision of pensions. However, much of the ongoing (legal) debate on pension reform deals with elements such as fairness and redistribution.

The Occupational Pension Trap: Towards a Preliminary Empirical Specification

1989 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 575-593 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Walker ◽  
Geoffrey Hardman ◽  
Sandra Hutton
Keyword(s):  
Social Security ◽  
Occupational Pension ◽  
Small State ◽  
Financial Benefit ◽  
Private Pensions ◽  
Occupational Pensions ◽  
Pension Schemes ◽  
The Impact

ABSTRACTLegislation in 1985 and 1986 has attempted to give new impetus to the growth of occupational and personal pension schemes. This article demonstrates that, because of the interaction between occupational pensions and means-tested social security provision, many of today's pensioners receive little or no financial benefit from their occupational pension. The evidence presented is consistent with the thesis that the pensioners who are worst affected by the ‘pension trap’ include those who, as workers, were low-paid and experienced interrupted employment. As a consequence they reached retirement with small state and occupational pensions, limited savings and no house which they owned. Many are women. The penetration of occupational and personal pensions is currently lowest among the same groups of workers and it could be that the Government's policy to extend the coverage of private pensions will result in an increase in the severity of the pension trap. Some measures for reducing the impact of the pension trap are discussed.

scholarly journals How Occupational Pensions Shape Extended Working Lives: Gender, Class and Chance after the Norwegian Pension Reform

2020 ◽  
pp. 095001702095261
Author(s):  
Anne Skevik Grødem ◽  
Jon M Hippe
Keyword(s):  
Private Sector ◽  
Pension Reform ◽  
Working Life ◽  
Occupational Pension ◽  
Replacement Rate ◽  
Occupational Pensions ◽  
Pension Systems ◽  
Working Lives ◽  
The Future

Individuals’ need for extended working lives depends on the design of pension systems, including occupational pensions. This article examines variation in occupational pension generosity and coverage in Norway’s private sector. The analysis consists of microsimulations of future pension outcomes for cohorts born in 1953, 1963, 1973 and 1983. The first set of calculations estimate average pension levels for individuals with different pension packages who retire at 67; the second, how much longer workers in different cohorts will have to work in order to obtain a replacement rate of 70%. The overall finding is that while all workers in Norway must extend working life in the future, those with the most generous occupational pensions can retire about four years earlier than those with the least generous packages. This shows that the design and regulation of occupational pensions are crucial to the debate on extended working lives.

Occupational pension schemes for part-time workers: Equality in the eye of the beholder?

2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 309-324
Author(s):  
Sarah Knoops
Keyword(s):  
Legal Protection ◽  
Occupational Pension ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Length Of Service ◽  
Equal Pay ◽  
Occupational Pensions ◽  
Pension Schemes ◽  
Classical Part ◽  
Part Time ◽  
The Impact

Although much attention is given to the newer forms of atypical work, a large percentage of employees still have a ‘classical’ part-time employment contract. 1 Despite long-standing legal protection against discrimination, these part-time workers risk receiving less favourable treatment. This article discusses the principle of non-discrimination in the field of occupational pensions from the perspective of part-time employment. It aims to show the adverse impact that seemingly neutral measures can have on the occupational pensions of part-time workers. By way of illustration, two cases of the Court of Justice of the European Union: the Schönheit and Becker case (length of service) and the Kleinsteuber case (split pension formula) are examined in detail. It is further argued that, in Kleinsteuber, the CJEU appears to have broadened the possibilities of justifying differential treatment. This tendency could threaten the efficiency of the principle of equal pay and non-discrimination for part-time workers as regards occupational pensions. Finally, the impact of these judgments on Belgian and Dutch occupational pension schemes is examined.

What determines supply and demand for occupational pensions in Germany?

2008 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 131-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
KATHRIN DUMMANN
Keyword(s):  
Pension System ◽  
Supply And Demand ◽  
Supply Side ◽  
Occupational Pension ◽  
Demand Side ◽  
Private Pensions ◽  
Occupational Pensions ◽  
On Demand ◽  
Supply Side Factors ◽  
Old Age Benefits

AbstractDemographic change causes an undersupply of financial old age benefits within the statutory pay-as-you-go pension system in Germany. Therefore, the provision of occupational as well as private pensions has to be enhanced. However, there seems to be an undersupply of occupational pension provision particularly in small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Using survey data of the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) and the German SAVE survey, the present paper studies econometrically the determinants of occupational pension provision in Germany. It shows that occupational pensions depend not only on supply-side factors such as firm size and industry, but also on demand-side factors such as individual sociodemo-graphic attributes and people's savings motives.

Elephants on the move. Patterns of public pension reform in OECD countries

2000 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 353-378 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karl Hinrichs
Keyword(s):  
Old Age ◽  
Social Insurance ◽  
Pension Reform ◽  
Universal Coverage ◽  
Oecd Countries ◽  
Public Pension ◽  
Occupational Pension ◽  
Old Age Security ◽  
Pension Schemes ◽  
The 1960S

Among OECD countries there are two clusters of old-age security systems: (1) ‘Social insurance’ countries had, by the end of the 1960s, fashioned the core of old-age security as public, contributory, earnings-related and unfunded insurance schemes; (2) a diverse collection of countries that, after 1970, topped up their basic pension arrangements with funded occupational pension schemes with (almost) universal coverage. ‘Social insurance’ countries, on which this essay focuses, reveal at least six common trends in pension reform, all about improving the financial sustainability of public schemes. Although the repertoire of incremental adjustment strategies is quite limited, policy changes since the early 1980s have not led to a clear convergence among ‘social insurance’ countries (or across the two clusters). Their original diversity has been somewhat diminished, but it has for the most part merely taken a different form. Public pension reforms regularly harmed (future) beneficiaries. Nevertheless, most reforms were actually based on broad political consensus. The success of attempts to introduce retrenchment policies depends on prior negotiation with – and support obtained from – collective actors above and beyond a simple parliamentary majority. This peculiar prerequisite ensures success in the sense of a sustained implementation of the measures taken and of actual improvement in public trust in ‘reliable’ pension schemes.

Divergent occupational pensions in Bismarckian countries: the case of Germany and Austria

2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tobias Wiß
Keyword(s):  
Financial Market ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Strategic Thinking ◽  
Occupational Pension ◽  
Pension Reforms ◽  
Occupational Pensions ◽  
Pension Schemes ◽  
Defined Contributions ◽  
Union Structure

Pension reforms and the changing public/private pension mix of the last decades are well documented. However, a more detailed look at the design of occupational pensions reveals remarkable differences even in countries that are usually treated as similar in the literature. Germany and Austria share many similarities and are having to cope with similar reform pressure. However, the design of occupational pensions varies substantially. Why? In Germany, trade unions are regularly involved in occupational pension schemes and benefits are calculated on the basis of defined contributions (DC), but with minimum return guarantees preventing losses in times of financial turmoil. By contrast, trade unions rarely participate in Austrian occupational schemes. In Austria, pure DC schemes without guarantees resulted in heavy occupational pension cuts during the recent financial market crises. Following the method of difference, the article explains this difference by trade union structure, unions’ strategic thinking and (lacking) reform threats supported by employers.

scholarly journals Equality without improvement? A case study of the impact of the Belgian unified status among blue-collar and white-collar workers on their occupational pensions

2021 ◽  
pp. 138826272110319
Author(s):  
Sarah Knoops
Keyword(s):  
White Collar ◽  
Pension Scheme ◽  
Occupational Pension ◽  
Equal Pay ◽  
Occupational Pensions ◽  
Pension Schemes ◽  
White Collar Workers ◽  
High Level ◽  
The Impact

The long-standing EU acquis of equal pay between male and female workers still proves to be a source of inspiration in the fight against discrimination, even in matters beyond the EU’s competence. This article deals with differences in status between blue- and white-collar workers, which have been haunting many Member States even as technological progress erodes its justification. Although this ground was never protected by EU law, a case study of the Belgian unified status with regard to occupational pensions (the second pension pillar), clearly shows the impact of the jurisprudence of the CJEU. In line with this EU case law, there is no requirement to grant the most beneficial pension scheme to all employees, which could lead to equal, but nevertheless very modest occupational pensions. Based on the preliminary results, we can predict that the Belgian unified status will have a positive effect on the number of blue- and white-collar workers affiliated to a pension scheme. It is, however, unlikely that the high level of benefits of the most generous pension schemes will be retained after harmonisation, considering the financial impact on the employer. It is therefore to be expected that the unified status will indeed lead to equal occupational pension schemes between blue- and white-collar workers, but fail to act as a lever to improve the quality of the second pension pillar in Belgium.

Projections of the costs of occupational pensions

1983 ◽  
Vol 110 (01) ◽  
pp. 243-269 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. L. Field
Keyword(s):  
Pension Scheme ◽  
Insurance Fund ◽  
Occupational Pension ◽  
Occupational Pensions ◽  
Pension Schemes ◽  
National Insurance ◽  
The Government ◽  
Starting Date

1. In the three years since projections of occupational pension scheme membership and expenditure were made for the Wilson Committee more data about schemes has become available, such as that from the Government Actuary's survey of Occupational Pension Schemes 1979 (theG.A.'s Survey), so the occasion of the publication of the Government Actuary's National Insurance Fund Long Term Financial Estimate (theQuinquennial Reviewor Q.R.) has been taken to revise and extend the Wilson Committee projections, using the starting date and earnings and prices assumptions of the Q.R.

Financing Occupational Pensions in the E.E.C.

1974 ◽  
Vol 21 (01) ◽  
pp. 36-57
Author(s):  
C. Waites
Keyword(s):  
Social Security ◽  
European Economic Community ◽  
Occupational Pension ◽  
Small State ◽  
Working Population ◽  
Private Pensions ◽  
Occupational Pensions ◽  
Pension Systems ◽  
The One ◽  
High Level

1.1. One of the declared intentions of the European Economic Community is the harmonization of Social Security arrangements, including State pensions. To the extent that occupational pensions are regarded as an adjunct to Social Security to bring total benefits up to an acceptable level, it is to be expected that the achievement of this aim would have its own effect on occupational pensions and on the way in which these pensions are financed.1.2. In practice progress along this path has been slow and both Social Security and occupational pension systems differ widely from country to country within the E.E.C. On the one hand there are the U.K. and Ireland providing very small State pensions by comparison with most of our neighbours, and at the other extreme Italy, where State pensions are at such a high level for the whole working population that private pensions are virtually non-existent.

scholarly journals Saving incentives, old-age provision and displacement effects: evidence from the recent German pension reform

2008 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 295-319 ◽  
Author(s):  
AXEL BÖRSCH-SUPAN ◽  
ANETTE REIL-HELD ◽  
DANIEL SCHUNK
Keyword(s):  
Old Age ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Pension Reform ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Pension Plans ◽  
Private Pension ◽  
Private Pensions ◽  
Occupational Pensions ◽  
Displacement Effects ◽  
Old Age Provision

AbstractIn response to population aging, pay-as-you-go pensions are being reduced in almost all developed countries. In many countries, governments aim to fill the resulting gap with subsidized private pensions. This paper exploits the recent German pension reform to shed new light on the uptake of voluntary, but heavily subsidized private pension schemes. Specifically, we investigate how the uptake of the recently introduced ‘Riester pensions’ depends on state-provided saving incentives, and how well the targeting at families and low-income households works in practice.We show that, after a slow start, private pension plans took off very quickly. While saving incentives were effective in reaching parents, they were less successful in attracting low-income earners, although Riester pensions exhibit a more equal pattern by income than occupational pensions and unsubsidized private pension plans.We also provide circumstantial evidence on displacement effects between saving for old-age provision and other purposes. Households who plan to purchase housing are less likely to have a Riester pension. The same holds for households who attach high importance to a bequest motive. Occupational pensions and other forms of private pensions, however, act as complements rather than as substitutes.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document