Overview
- The Bundesrechnungshof told the Bundestag budget committee on Friday that, under unfavorable assumptions, pension-related payments could consume nearly half of federal tax revenue by 2040, rising from about 29–37 percent in current scenarios.
- The warning targeted the package from the Alterssicherungskommission, which recommends linking the regular retirement age to life expectancy, ending the penalty-free pension after 45 insurance years, and raising the earliest age for some early pensions.
- An internal Bundesarbeitsministerium draft suggested exempting the 1965–1967 cohorts from the immediate rise in the regular retirement age, but the ministry says that paper was a working draft and not an approved government position.
- New wage data from the GKV show average hourly pay in elderly care at €28.03 for skilled staff and €20.96 for unskilled helpers, figures the cabinet used when largely dropping earlier limits on how wage hikes would be refinanced for care providers.
- Some legal protections are already in force for citizens: for example, §34(2) SGB XI guarantees continued payment of care allowances for the first eight weeks of a full hospital stay, and transitional rules for reform changes remain unresolved for affected workers and retirees.