A recent study reveals a significant rise in the number of individuals receiving pensions who remain employed. According to data from a special survey conducted by the German Pension Insurance (Deutsche Rentenversicherung), approximately 1.46 million pensioners were actively working at the end of 2023. This figure represents an increase from the 1.3 million recorded a year prior.
The data, released in response to a parliamentary inquiry by the Left party (Die Linke) and reported by Ippen-Media, highlights a trend of continued employment among retirees. A substantial portion, 1.18 million, were older than the standard retirement age of 65 to 67.
Within this group, over 923,000 held “minijobs” a form of part-time employment with limited working hours and social security contributions. An additional 278,000 held positions with greater working hours. Notably, approximately 250,000 individuals were receiving pension payments before reaching the standard retirement age while simultaneously remaining in the workforce.
Sarah Vollath, a Member of Parliament for the Left party and spokesperson for her faction on pension and retirement security policy, expressed concern regarding this trend. She connected the rise in employed pensioners with the concurrent increase in poverty among the elderly. Vollath stated that individuals should not be compelled to continue working due to insufficient pension benefits and urged the government to undertake a substantial “real” pension reform, suggesting many proposed measures to date have been inadequate.