The Netherlands divided over retirement age
The retirement age in the Netherlands is to be raised to 67 by 2021. Now a publication put out by the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute has sparked a debate on the subject. According to the report, people with lower qualifications should be able to retire earlier than the more highly educated. Commentators take widely differing views on the subject.
Only extra costs for the state
NRC Handelsblad doesn't think much of the idea:
“The trade unionists, who are ageing fast, are strictly opposed to the idea of raising the age of retirement. Employers would also benefit from a lower retirement age because that would mean they could get rid of employees who are no longer as productive. Only the state doesn't stand to gain from such a measure: because people are getting older pension costs are rising rapidly. So it would be extremely unwise of the government to give up its goal of raising the age of retirement to 67.”
Restore a fair balance
De Volkskrant takes a different view:
“Differentiation when it comes to the age of retirement is justified. Since the 1980s a society has evolved that places strong emphasis on economic freedom and individual responsibility. In recent years an awareness that the better educated benefit more from this constellation than the less educated has increased. A lower age of retirement for the less educated could help to restore a fair balance between them and the better educated.”