The head of the Federal Employment Agency, Andrea Nahles, sees no problems with pension payments in the future. The forecasts feared in the past did not materialize.

Andrea Nahles, head of the Federal Employment Agency, is not worried about the future of statutory pensions. The forecasts from earlier that old-age security would soon be dead did not materialize, she told the news portal t-online: “In truth, the pension is alive and kicking.” The reasons for this are increased employment among women and older people and more immigration. “That’s why I’m optimistic: We can stabilize pensions in the long term if we specifically control qualified immigration and increase the labor force participation of those who already live with us,” said the former SPD leader.

There is already a “totally interesting” trend among older people. “People retire on average at the age of 64, enjoy their time off for a while, but are then more open than before to at least working part-time again,” said Nahles: “If we were more flexible, we could who continue to work in old age.” Nahles does not find the criticism of Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who recently complained about the high number of early retirees, appropriate. “I understood Olaf Scholz differently,” she said: “He wants people to reach their standard old-age pension and not retire before that for health reasons. That is also the position of the Federal Employment Agency.”