The INPS holes public employment data (as usual)
The INPS actuarial-statistical coordination has published the statistics on pensions in force as of 1 January, but the document seems to have important gaps. The Comment by Giuliano Cazzola
The INPS actuarial-statistical coordination has published the statistics on pensions in force on 1 January. As always, the note opens a horizon on the universe of pensions, social security and welfare, with the breakdowns regarding the type of benefits, the schemes, the gender, the total and average amount. As usual, the figures for public employment do not appear, but only for the dependent and autonomous private sectors: which represents a serious handicap since the Inpdap has been incorporated into the INPS for almost a decade. There is another lacuna in the Observatory in question which, in truth, could even constitute reticence: the effective average age at the start is indicated considering all retirement benefits, without specifying the effective average age for early retirement.
Why am I raising this question? In this way, the actual average age is higher (due to the 67 years required for old age in the strict sense) than that in which the majority of subjects (if men) retire, using the shortcut of early treatment (through both quota 100, and the ordinary seniority requirement regardless of age). It thus appears that, in 2020, the average old age master data at the starting date is equal to 64.3 years. A correct but compliant figure, because it distracts attention from the fact that in Italy – especially in dependent work – early retirement at an effective age between 62 and 63 is more widespread.
At a time when the debate on pensions continues to revolve around (at the expiry of the quota 100) how to avoid the 5-year "staircase" that appears when the experimental and transitory regimes will cease, and therefore the discipline of early treatment, divert attention from when Italians – of the current generations – cut their retirement goal, in order to continue to shake the legal age of old age at 67 as one of the highest in Europe, when everyone knows that the effective age is lower. Let me be clear, early retirement exists in the vast majority of European countries, but those who benefit from it are generally fewer in number than those who access old-age treatment (which is the normal way out of work); moreover, the advance of the pension, where it is allowed, is subject to economic penalties that are not foreseen by us.
Basically, in the dependent and self-employed private sector, as of January 1st there were 4,668,113 early pensions (plus 210,000 early retirements) and 4,667,766 old-age pensions. Total expenditure in 2020 was over 105 billion in the first case and 41 billion in the second. The difference – it has been explained many times – derives from the amount of the allowance, since a very high length of service is required for the advance with the relative payment of contributions, while for old age at least 20 years are sufficient, provided that have a high personal data requirement. In short: with us you retire at any age if you have had a long and stable working life; at the age of 67 if you have few contributions.
The fact is that – due to the way the labor market is made up – it is mostly men of the baby boomers who mature – before the age of 67 – the length of service that allows them to leave (and therefore with higher amounts) anticipated, as opposed to female workers who are the major users of old age. Out of the total retirement pensions, men are 3.5 million, while out of the total old-age pensions, women are 2.8 million.
If we take into consideration dependent work, the advance payments amount to 2,980,981 units (of which 717 thousand workers), those of old age to 2,529,590 (of which 1.7 million women), for an annual expenditure of 77 billion and of 26 billion. In 2020, the new pensions disbursed in the FPLD were 160,000 of seniority and 100,000 of old age, for an expenditure of 4.5 billion and 1.4 billion respectively. Considering all the private sectors, 235 thousand early pensions and 195 thousand old-age pensions were paid (total amounts: 5.9 billion against 2.2 billion). From the analysis of the territorial distribution, it is observed that the geographical area that records the highest percentage of pension benefits as of January 1, 2021 (with particular reference to early treatments) is Northern Italy with 47.73%, the Center is paid 19.34% of pensions, while in southern Italy and the islands 30.8%; the remaining 2.13% (378,479 pensions) is paid to subjects residing abroad.
By calculating the ratio between the number of pensions and the resident population (per thousand) of each geographical area, it is observed that the North continues to be the area with the greatest number of pensions per thousand residents (307.6 per thousand), followed by the Center with 291.0 per thousand and from the South with 271.5 per thousand. Observing the distribution by category, it is observed that the North has a higher number of pensions per resident for the old-age and survivors categories, followed by the Center and the South, while the order is reversed for social security invalidity pensions and welfare benefits.
20.2% of the welfare benefits are made up of pensions and social allowances, of which 37.1% paid to men, the remaining 79.8% of the benefits are paid to disabled civilians in the form of a pension and / or indemnity, of the latter the share paid to men is 41.2%. Analyzing the sub-categories it is observed that 43.3% of pensions and social allowances originated from a civil invalidity pension; it follows that the benefits linked to disability are 3,527,379 and constitute 88.6% of the total of welfare benefits. The most important benefit is the accompanying allowance for total invalids which represents 45.6% of all benefits and represents almost half (49.7%) of the total annual amount paid.
It is noted that the welfare benefits provided to men have a rate that is constantly below 50%; this phenomenon can be attributed to a greater presence of women in the older age groups (with greater risk of disability) together with a greater exposure to poverty (many older women have not had sufficient payments to accrue a social security benefit) .
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/linps-buca-i-dati-del-pubblico-impiego-come-al-solito/ on Thu, 01 Apr 2021 05:18:40 +0000.