Only 0.2% of permanent work contracts ended due to retirement in 2018. Just 0.02% of employees retired early and 0.05% went down the RCC path. 0.14% of permanent contracts ended with an RCC in 2010.
“We have seen that fewer and fewer employees are able to go down the RCC route since the conditions for accessing RCC became stricter in 2015,” said Olivier Marq, a jurist with Acerta. “Discussions on this issue, during negotiations on the interprofessional agreement, were more like an ideological debate rather than dialogue that would have a real impact on older employee’s availability on the job market.”
The average age employees leave work through an RCC has gone up to 61 years old (58.2 in 2010): it is getting closer and closer to the average early retirement age (61.5) or the standard retirement age (63.3).
Acerta has noticed an increase in employees asking to retire (38.1% of contracts, up 7.4% between 2010 and 2018). The number of people retiring because of exceptional circumstances and medical reasons has also increased (3.2% of contracts).
“The figure is going up and up”, says Olivier Macq. “We should be concerned. Physical and mental health are important for a healthy job market and by extension a healthy society. Making employment feasible and manageable can help avoid medical problems and reduce the amount of sickness.” The average retirement age for people who had to stop work for medical reasons went up to 44.6 in 2018.
The study was based on real data for employees working for more than 32,000 employers in the private sector.
Sarah Johansson
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