October 2022

The Effect of Removing Early Retirement on Mortality

By Cristina Bellés-Obrero, Sergi Jimenez-Martin & Han Ye This paper sheds new light on the mortality effect of delaying retirement by investigating the impacts of the 1967 Spanish pension reform. This reform exogenously changed the early retirement age, depending on the date individuals started contributing to the Social Security system. Those contributing before 1 January 1967 maintained the right to voluntarily retire early (at age 60), while individuals who started contributing after that date could not voluntarily claim a pension...

June 2022

Bank Of Spain Insists That Measures Are Lacking To Ensure The Sustainability Of Pensions

The governor of the Bank of Spain, Pablo Hernández de Cos, has reaffirmed his calculations on the pension system after the Minister of Social Security, José Luis Escrivá, described them as “unsophisticated”. He once again argued that the measures proposed are not enough to ensure sustainability once pensions have been linked to inflation and the sustainability factor has been eliminated: “If you add and subtract, there is a gap that has to be covered,” he said in an appearance...

May 2022

Spain: Spending On Pensions Reached A Record 10.81 Billion Euros In May, Up 4.8%

The Social Security allocated a record 10.81 billion euros to the payment of contributory pensions this May, 4.8% more than in the same month of 2021, the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration said on Friday. The Department headed by José Luis Escrivá estimates that spending on pensions stood at 11.8% of GDP in the fifth month of the year, a lower percentage than in 2020 (12.4% of GDP), a year conditioned by the impact of the pandemic...

January 2022

Spain to raise regular public pensions by 2.5% this year

Spain will raise most public pensions by 2.5% in 2022, boosting the average pensioner's income by around 250 euros ($281.78) a year Social Security Minister Jose Luis Escriva said on Tuesday after a cabinet meeting where the increase was approved. The lowest public pensions will increase by 3%, he added, while inflation reached 6.5% in 2021. Overall, the pension increase will cost some 6.5 billion euros. ($1 = 0.8872 euros) Read more @ZAWYA The newspaper El Economista explains today that on the same...

December 2021

Spain. The IMF warns of the ‘Escrivá plan’ for pensions: the reform will raise spending by 42,000 million

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) warns the Government of Spain about the pension reform, which will make the System more unsustainable if complementary measures are not taken on spending and income. In this way, it disfigures the cabinet led by the Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migrations, José Luis Escrivá, that “the pension reform has prioritized social acceptability and sufficiency, but concerns remain about sustainability in the event that no additional measures are implemented “. The agency assures...

The OECD warns of the pressure of aging on the financial sustainability of pensions in Spain

The body warns, at a general level and without specifying any country, that the future of pension systems depends on the decision being made to raise contributions, extend the retirement age or reduce pensions. A pensioner during a demonstration of this group in Bilbao. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has warned of the impact that the aging of the population will have on the “financial sustainability” of the Spanish pension system, according to the annex for Spain of the biennial...

November 2021

Spain. Inflation At 5.6% Forces Pensions Up By 2.5%

Inflation rose by 5.6% in November compared to last year, two tenths of a percentage point higher than in October, and its highest level since September 1992. The preliminary data, published on Monday by the National Statistics Institute (INE), mark new annual highs for inflation in Spain, which has risen without interruption since March. The agency blames the rise on increases in food prices and, to a lesser extent, in fuel and lubricants for vehicles. On a more positive...

Spain to raise social-security payments to fund coming pensions boom

Spain's government has agreed with unions to raise social-security contributions by 0.6% between 2023 and 2032 to help pay for the pensions of an upcoming wave of retirees, the Social Security Ministry said on Monday. Spain experienced a baby boom during the last two decades of Francisco Franco's dictatorship which ended in 1975, and people born during that era are expected to retire soon, putting state finances under increasing strain. Read also With more than 450 delegates, MENA’s biggest pensions conference...

July 2021

Spain inches ahead with pension reform

Spain will pay workers to postpone retirement as part of a pensions reform strategy that analysts warn does not go far enough to cut a huge deficit in the system. With nearly 30 billion euros ($36 billion) of annual losses in 2020 and rising, Spain's social security budget is one of the biggest contributors to the country's ballooning public deficit. The European Commission has long demanded that Spain reform its pension system and has made it a condition for accessing European...

Spain. Escrivá Advances A Small Adjustment In Pensions Of The Baby Boomers

Escrivá advances a “small adjustment” in the pensions of the ‘baby boomers’. According to the minister, they will be able to choose between adjusting or delaying retirement. The new equity mechanism will replace the sustainability factor. Escrivá indicates that the pension reform will come into force “at the end of the year”. Read also France. Macron Weighs Pension Reform Before Bastille Day The implementation of the new intergenerational equity mechanism will mean “a small adjustment” in the pension of the generation...