LONG CAREERS 2023. The debates are becoming more complex between the majority and certain Republican deputies, in particular on the contribution period with a view to adopting the text of the pension reform. Explanations.
[Updated Mar 13, 2023 4:17 p.m.] Some government concessions to Republicans may not be in the pension reform text. “It is possible that this is the case. The whole thing is that the text is in balance” declared the Minister of Economy Bruno Le Maire, Monday March 13 on France Info. Main protester at Les Républicains, the deputy of Lot Aurélien Pradié who wishes to be intransigent concerning the lowering of the contribution period to 43 years for all those who started working early. As a reminder, on Thursday March 9, the members of the Senate voted in favor of extending the long career system as part of the pension reform project. And in particular, the creation of a new level at 21 years. In other words, allow people born between the ages of 20 and 21 to benefit from early retirement, at age 63, which is not the case today.
Currently, the long career scheme allows 1 in 5 French people to benefit from early retirement. With the pension reform, the government intends to go further, and strengthen this provision to allow as many people as possible to benefit from it. This is why the government wants to create a new threshold at 18, allowing those born before this age to benefit from an early departure at 60. Also, a threshold at 21 should be created to leave at 63 (one year earlier than the new legal age set at 64 by the reform), in particular after the vote of the senators. Remember that to benefit from long careers it is necessary to have started working early (before the age of 20), to have contributed 5 quarters before that age and to have validated 43 annuities and 172 quarters (full career). Prerogatives which also apply to the new thresholds provided for by the reform. The creation of the threshold at 21 should allow 300,000 additional people to retire earlier.
Through this pension reform, the government promises a new device “adapted, so that no person who started working early is forced to work over 44 years”. But the system of long careers appears to be the main point of contention between the majority and the opposition. So much so that the Prime Minister has already let go of the ballast, by agreeing to grant an early departure at 63 years old, for those who started working before 21 years old. The maximum threshold was until then at 20 years. A concession like an outstretched hand to the deputies Les Républicains, who appear to be the only solution of alliance for the majority, with a view to adopting the text without passing by force with the help of a possible 49.3. This gesture on the part of the number 2 of the government could cost between 600 million and 1 billion euros per year.
Here is the new retirement age, based on your starting age. Attention, to benefit from this early departure, it is mandatory to have validated at least 5 terms before the age of 20, 4 if you were born at the end of the year:
To benefit from early retirement for a long career, you must have started working before the age of 20. Two other conditions prevail. First, your pension insurance period must include, all compulsory basic schemes combined, a minimum number of quarters contributed. Also, you must have acquired a minimum number of quarters of retirement insurance at the start of your career. 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 2023 pension reform slightly modified the system for long careers by introducing a new level, set at 18 years. From now on, if you started working before the age of 18, it will be possible to retire at age 60, four years earlier. As mentioned above, the earlier you started working, the earlier you can retire. On the other hand, women could be among the losers. According to a government impact study, a woman will have to work an average of 7 months longer with the reform, compared to 5 additional months for men. And up to 9 months longer for a woman born in 1972, four months longer than a man.
Another potential novelty, to compensate for chopped careers, the periods validated under the old-age insurance for stay-at-home parents (AVPF), in particular due to parental leave, could be part of the long career system. Data subjects could therefore validate up to four additional quarters in this situation. Periods which would also be counted in the calculation of the increased minimum pension. This should increase the amount of small pensions for some women, forced to put their career on hold to take care of their child(ren).
The national pension fund for local authority employees (CNRACL) is the pension fund for the basic scheme of local government and hospital employees. It is a public administrative institution of the State, it is managed by the Pensions and Solidarity Department of Caisse des Dépôts. Note that the conditions for obtaining a “long career” pension are exactly the same as for other civil servants.
