The head of the German Civil Service Federation (DBB), Volker Geyer, has rejected a proposal to extend the working lives of civil servants.
Speaking to the Saturday editions of the Funke Media Group, Geyer described the suggestion as “astonishing” adding that the debate surrounding social security systems was increasingly characterized by “absurd ideas”. He argued that the concept of an average life expectancy is fundamentally flawed, stating that “no one has an average life expectancy.
Geyer further elaborated, questioning the practicality of basing policy on such granular demographic data. “Civil servants, employees, self-employed individuals, men, women, academics, students attending secondary modern schools, overweight individuals, athletes – each group would have a different life expectancy. Is this really the level on which we want to have this discussion?
His comments came in response to a study by the Pestel Institute, where economists proposed that civil servants work five and a half years longer than other workers, citing discrepancies in average life expectancies between the two professional groups as justification for the suggestion.