But how much do Baby pensions cost us?

Baby pensions cost us 7 billion. How much citizenship income is almost 2 billion more than "100 share"

Many experts argue that the so-called baby pensions cost the state coffers about 7 billion euros per year (equal to 0,4 percent of national GDP). Practically the same amount foreseen this year for the income / pension of citizenship and even higher than almost 2 billion of the expenditure necessary in 2020 to pay the pension checks to those who will benefit from the 100 quota.

The CGIA Studies Office thought about it and "recovered" the INPS data for baby pensioners present in our country and compared them with the economic dimension of citizenship income and quota 100. Two measures, these the latter, which are targeted by the European Union. Indeed, it cannot be excluded that Brussels will ask us to review them, otherwise we run the risk that part of the aid provided for by the "Next Generation EU" will be denied us. Says the coordinator of the Studies Office Paolo Zabeo:

"The term baby pensioners is obviously informal, it has no legislative basis and we have decided to include those who left their job before the end of 1980 in this category. In total, almost 562 thousand people no longer stamp the card at least 40 years. Of these, over 386 thousand are mostly made up of disabled or former employees of large companies. If the former benefited from legislation that defined the requirements to a very permissive extent, the latter, following the industrial restructuring started in the second half of the 70s, benefited from very generous treatments leaving the labor market. After that, we count another 104 thousand former self-employed workers, more than half coming from agriculture, and only a small part, equal to 10,6 percent of the total, which corresponds to just under 60 thousand units, is formed, instead, by ex civil servants. I remember that many of these employees were able to permanently leave the office desk at a very young age, thanks to the law approved in 1973 by the government then chaired by Mariano Rumor ".

Although these 562 people retired from the labor market before the late 1980s, the economic effects of these political decisions are still being felt today. CGIA Secretary Renato Mason points out:

“Baby pensions are one of the most sensational examples of how Italy, after the growth recorded in the first decades of the second post-war period, subsequently abandoned the idea of ​​basing its future on intergenerational solidarity. As regards social security, for example, until the early 90s we exchanged the well-being achieved in acquired law, passing on the costs to the new generations. In fact, today's young people often work on fixed-term contracts, receiving very light payroll. Despite this, they are called to make their contribution to cover the generous checks paid to the old generations who went into retirement with the remuneration system, while their pension, closely linked to the contributions paid, will almost certainly have very small economic dimensions ".

Among baby pensioners, civil servants have left their jobs at a younger age (41,9 years), while in private management the average age of the pension has taken off after (42,7 years). In both cases, however, the definitive abandonment of the job took place practically with 20 years of age less than those who, today, enjoy a quota of 100. Currently, the people who went into retirement before December 31, 1980 they have an average age of 87,6 years.

If instead the comparison is made between males and females, we record that the latter are in clear majority. Among the 562 baby pensioners in Italy, 446 are women (equal to 79,4 per cent of the total) and “only” 115.840 are men (20,6 per cent of the total). In terms of age, however, it was the stronger sex who left work earlier with an average of 40,6 years, compared with 43,2 for women. Finally, for both males and females the average age at which they received the first pension was lower among public than private employees: on average 6 months in both cases.

Although they are a small minority compared to the total number present on January 1, 2020, when it comes to baby pensioners, the memory goes to former civil servants who have benefited from extremely favorable rules for early retirement. The possibility began from 1973 until the early 90s, when the Amato reform of 1992 and the subsequent Dini reform of 1996 put an end to this privilege.

We recall that in this twenty-year period, in the midst of the remuneration regime, the requirements for retirement were recognized for public employees with children after 14 years, six months and one day. While for the state it was possible to leave the service after 19 and a half years and for local workers after 25 years.

There is nothing surprising, therefore, if on the European chessboard Italy, even net of welfare expenses, has for years been among the countries that spend the most on pensions, sacrificing other sectors such as education, where we are among the realities that invest less in Europe.

However, it should be remembered that social security spending in our country is particularly high, also because we have one of the highest average ages in the world. We have few children, but we live better and more than once, so the population tends to grow old. Consider that in 1981 the number of over 80s in our country was just over a million. In the space of 40 years, people over 3.900.000 have almost quadrupled: at the beginning of this year they had exceeded XNUMX.

But how much do Baby pensions cost us?

| Economics, EVIDENCE 1 |