BERLIN (AFP) — In 2022, pension insurance saw a significant increase in the number of voluntary contributors and, in particular, in advance purchases in the event of an earlier start of retirement. “Many people have taken the opportunity to pay voluntary contributions,” said the President of the German Pension Insurance Association, Gundula Roßbach, the newspapers of the editorial network Germany (RND) on Saturday. According to this, in 2022 the income from voluntary contributions increased by around 29 percent compared to the previous year, to 1.9 billion euros.
The biggest factor was the income from contributions that were paid to avoid deductions in the event of early retirement, Roßbach told the RND. “Here we recorded an increase of 45 percent last year compared to 2021.” According to Roßbach, the currently stable financial situation of the pension fund is mainly due to the labor market. “The pension fund recorded an increase of 3.4 billion euros at the end of 2022.” This can be explained above all by the robust labor market. “A high level of employment subject to social security contributions brings high income from contributions for the social security systems,” said Roßbach. “In addition, we have less expenditure than initially forecast.”
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 11, 2023 05:10 ET (10:10 GMT)