Olaf Scholz has reaffirmed that Germany will not increase the retirement age as a means of tackling the country’s increasing worker shortage.

Germany will not increase retirement age past 67, says Scholz

Speaking at a debate in Heilbronn, Baden-Württemberg, Chancellor Olaf Scholz has underlined that he believes raising the retirement age in Germany to deal with the country’s spiralling worker shortage would make little sense.

With many sectors, including schools, Kitas and hospitals in desperate need of staff, German trade associations have urged the chancellor to consider further raising the national retirement age, which is currently 66 years and will reach 67 by 2031, to swiftly increase the country’s working population.

“After [67], I think it's good. [...] 50 years is quite a long time to work,” said the chancellor, referring to the number of years of work that most in Germany carry out if they enter employment at 17.

Scholz says people can continue to work past retirement if they like

At the Heilbronn conference, Scholz added that the current retirement law in Germany also facilitates people working past the national retirement age if they would like to do so. But the chancellor argued that when it comes to people working in their 50s and 60s, the country should first look at how to improve the prospects of older job-seekers, before asking those over 67 to put in more years.

At the moment, Germany is setting its sights further afield for its main solution to the shortage, with a number of new policies set to be introduced that will make it easier for non-EU skilled workers to come to Germany without a specific offer for a job and should make it simpler for them to stay in the country in the long term.

In the past, Federal Employment Agency director Andrea Nahles has pointed out that this policy decision is a necessity in the current situation. “Even if we leverage all domestic potential, [overcoming the worker shortage] will not be possible without further immigration,” said Nahles, adding that the country was also in need of people for both qualified and unqualified work.

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