The 2023 pension reform could force some people to work an extra year, especially those who started working earlier and who benefit from the long career scheme.

The pension reform presented by the government on January 10 raises the legal retirement age to 64, compared to 62 currently. The contribution period also increases to reach 43 years by 2027, so as to benefit from a full pension. Regarding long careers, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne wished and declared at the beginning of the week that no one “having started working early, is obliged to work more than 44 years”. As a reminder, this device allows you to benefit from a legal early retirement age if you started working after 20 years. With the reform, a little novelty appeared with the creation of a new level at 18 years old. In other words, if you started working before the age of 18, it will be possible to retire at age 60, which is four years earlier (if you have contributed at least 44).

The long career project defined by the new pension reform now allows a person who started working at 14 to retire at 58. 59 if you started at 15, 60 if you started at 16, 61 if you started at 17, and 62 if you started between 18 and 20. However, to benefit from early retirement for a long career, two conditions prevail. First, your pension insurance period must include, all compulsory basic schemes combined, a minimum number of quarters contributed (172 with the reform). Also, you must have acquired a minimum number of quarters of retirement insurance at the start of your career (5 before age 20 with the reform). These 2 pension insurance duration conditions vary according to your year of birth, the age from which you started working and the age from which you plan to take early retirement.

The service-public.fr website details the conditions giving rise to the right to early departure for a long career, before the new reform, in the following table:

But with the pension reform, no worker will be able to work more than 44 years if he started working early, as confirmed by the government. However, the new system has a limit. Some workers will be required to contribute one year more than others. Explanations. Today, if you were born in 1973 and you started working at the age of 17, you can then leave at the age of 60 at the full rate, having validated 43 annuities. But as indicated by Franceinfo, with the reform and the new rule of 44 annuities, the departure will be delayed to 61 years old at full rate, still having started his career at 17 years old. That’s a year older than today. The reform will be presented to the Council of Ministers on January 23. Before a passage before the National Assembly in early February, and a potential entry into force before the end of the summer.