Maltese workers might need to delay retirement to maintain living standards
Malta’s low pensions might lead today’s workers to have to remain in employment past their retirement age if they are to maintain the standard of living they became accustomed to, Jobsplus CEO Clyde Caruana has said.
Caruana said that, given that pensions in Malta are only 1.2 times the poverty line, meaning that pensioners are not very far from the income level delineating poverty, workers might choose to continue working even when they reach an elderly age. Comparatively, Spain, a fellow Mediterranean European Union member state, has pensions which are 1.7 times the poverty line.
The only alternative to this, he said, would be for the government to substantially increase pensions, which would require either a much higher economic growth rate than the country currently enjoys, or that taxes are increased.
Caruana was speaking on Thursday at a forum on the silver economy and active ageing, organised in collaboration with the Department of Gerontology and Dementia Studies and the Centre for Labour Studies.
The aim of the conference was to kick-start a discussion on how the government can encourage more senior citizens to keep working, if they are fit and willing to do so.
Read more @Maltatoday
