March 2020

25Mar

German federation proposes standard product for private pensions

The Federation of German Consumer Organisations – vzbv – and the state of Hesse have proposed a standard product, or Extra Rente, for private pensions to reform the system. The proposal aims to fix some of the problems brought by the privately funded pension system – Riester-Rente – since its introduction almost 20 years ago, precisely at the time when the government coalition weighs up possible changes. Dorothea Mohn, head of the financial market team at Vzbv, told IPE...

March 25, 2020
News, Slider, , ,
Read more...
07Mar

Employee Representation and the Risk of Corporate Pension Plans

By Nicola Heusel We analyze the effect of direct labour representation in supervisory boards on the risk of corporate pension plans.We exploit employee representation requirements mandated by German labour law and find that firms with parity employee representation reduce pension plan risk both in terms of funding as well as in terms of investment risk. Source: SSRN

March 7, 2020
Articles, Labor Market, , ,
Read more...

January 2020

17Jan

Germany’s other migration wave: the pensioner exodus

As retirement neared a decade ago, German butcher Waldemar Hackstaetter took stock of his finances and concluded he and wife Hildegard couldn't afford to remain in their home country. So they moved to rural Bulgaria, where they knew their combined income of 1,200 euros (£1,026) would buy a lot more. Read Also Greek Authorities to Raise Pensions after Years of Cutbacks "The month stretched further than our pension did (in Germany) and we didn't want to become a burden to...

January 17, 2020
News, Slider, , , ,
Read more...
10Jan

Demographic Obstacles to European Growth

By: Thomas F. Cooley, Espen Henriksen, Charlie Nusbaum Since the early 1990’s the growth rates of the four largest European economies—France, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom—have slowed. This persistent slowdown suggests a low-frequency structural change is at work. A combination of longer individual life expectancies and declining fertility have led to gradually ageing populations. Demographic change affects economic growth directly through households savings and labor supply decisions and also growth indirectly through the pension systems and the need to...

January 10, 2020
Aging, Articles, Labor Market, , , ,
Read more...
08Jan

Germany needs 500,000 new immigrants every year

Germany is grappling with a ticking demographic time bomb. The Local spoke with FDP politician Christian Dürr who says immigration is the key to the country's future. As a society, we are living longer – and that's a good thing. But there is a lot of debate over how to stop Germany's welfare system buckling under the pressure of an ageing population. The Local spoke with Christian Dürr, deputy chairman of the pro-business Free Democrats' (FDP) parliamentary group, who recently wrote a guest...

January 8, 2020
News, Slider, ,
Read more...

November 2019

29Nov

Digitization and Automation: Firm Investment and Labor Outcomes

By Michał Zator AI, automation and other digital technologies are thought to be transforming the economy, but the empirical evidence on their diffusion and impact is scarce. This paper uses new firm-level administrative data from Germany to analyze causes and consequences of firms' investment in the new technology - digitization and automation. Main results characterize relationship of technology and labor: (1) investment in technology is typically increased by labor scarcity; (2) new technologies typically reduce employment. Both results hide...

November 29, 2019
Articles, Labor Market, ,
Read more...
27Nov

Germany Upper House Considers Bill to Introduce Tax Allowance for Occupational Pensions

The German upper house of Parliament (Bundesrat) Nov. 21 accepted for consideration a bill to introduce a tax allowance for the promotion of occupational pensions. Read also Puerto Rico Retirement Plans Will See Tax Provisions Reinstated The bill includes measures to: 1) apply a maximum allowance of 159 euros (US$175) of monthly pension payments and one-off capital disbursements; Read also Australia. Super tax breaks outweigh pension payments 2) allow beneficiaries whose pension began before 2020 or whose capital payment was less...

November 27, 2019
News, Slider, ,
Read more...
21Nov

Why taxes on pensioners in Germany have risen up to 500 percent since 2010

The tax burden on pensioners has increased fivefold within ten years in some cases, according to figures released by the Finance Ministry on Wednesday. For example, new pensioners now have to pay €430 in income tax per year on a monthly gross pension of €1500, compared with €79 in 2010. The figures were released on Wednesday, as part of an inquiry submitted to the Federal Ministry of Finance by Die Linke. For an individual with a monthly gross...

November 21, 2019
News, Slider, , ,
Read more...
12Nov

Germany. Government agrees on basic pension

Berlin (dpa) - German Labour Minister Hubertus Heil on Monday praised a compromise deal struck by the country's ruling coalition on a new basic pension, saying that it is a good solution. Read also German coalition parties avert government crisis with pension deal "We have a basic pension that is worthy of its name," he told the broadcaster ARD. Heil said that he had been particularly focused on not deterring needy people and on avoiding unnecessary bureaucracy. Read also Switzerland....

November 12, 2019
News, Slider, ,
Read more...
11Nov

German coalition parties avert government crisis with pension deal

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives and the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) on Sunday broke a deadlock over a higher basic pension for low-income workers, an impasse which had threatened the future of their governing coalition. Senior coalition members, including Merkel and SPD Finance Minister Olaf Scholz, sealed the compromise deal during talks in the chancellery that lasted more than six hours. The package also includes lower contributions to the public unemployment insurance scheme and the creation of an investment...

November 11, 2019
News, Slider, ,
Read more...