Japan showed the wayMore and more retirees are looking for work
Active retirement is intended to make work in retirement more attractive. Although the coalition has not yet agreed on the details, many senior workers are planning to return to the job market – platforms such as Silvertalent are seeing record increases.
While the federal government is still debating the pension package and economists are discussing its impact, the Silvertalent employment platform run by founder and managing director Christian Ahrendt says it has already recorded considerable growth. “In the last twelve months, our number of users has tripled – the demand is huge,” Ahrendt told ntv.de.
This portal is explicitly aimed at retirees who want to earn extra money in retirement. Since it was founded in 2022, there are now around 52,500 retirees and 1,500 companies registered. Silvertalent is funded through commissions from employers. An advertisement costs 79 euros. The placement is free for job seekers.
Ahrendt estimates the number of registered users will double again in the next twelve months. Such optimism cannot currently be observed in the coalition. Due to the lack of a secure coalition majority, the possibility of postponing the Bundestag vote originally planned for December had been discussed for days. The United Young Group faction does not want to support a pension plan without changes because they fear billions of dollars in costs, including from 2031. Active pensions would probably cost the country 890 million euros a year in lost taxes.
The package stipulates that employees of retirement age will be able to earn up to 2,000 euros per month tax-free from next year. The aim is to create incentives so that the employment potential of the elderly can be better utilized and the skills acquired can stay with the company longer. Active retirement is not intended for self-employed people and civil servants. Against the backdrop of changing demographics and increasing labor shortages, the retention of older workers in the labor market is becoming increasingly important.
According to startup founder Ahrendt, the job market is currently experiencing a paradigm shift. While older workers were often put into early retirement with expensive severance payments a few years ago, the shortage of skilled workers has now expanded into a general labor shortage. “This means many companies are increasingly relying on the experience, motivation and reliability of older employees,” Ahrendt said. In the short term, job offers are based on the economic situation, but in the medium and long term, demographic changes will be obvious.
According to calculations by the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) on behalf of the Bertelsmann Foundation, active retirement is expected to create 25,000 to 33,000 additional full-time positions. Therefore, this agency proves that active retirement has a “moderate employment effect.”
Its founder, Ahrendt, predicts active retirees will work longer in the future than ever before. “Classic small jobs are being replaced by longer part-time jobs.” Half of users are already open to new activities that have nothing to do with their previous work. “The most popular jobs are in office, reception, driving, customer service, child and senior care, and sales/retail,” Ahrendt said.
The DIW study came to the conclusion that active retirement will only benefit the country once the threshold of 40,000 additional full-time positions is reached. More precisely: Only in this way will income tax losses borne by the tax authorities be compensated.
According to Ahrendt, a look at Japan shows what opportunities active pension funds offer. More than one in four people over 65 already work there. “In Germany it is currently around eight percent. That shows how much potential can still be reactivated,” said the 38 year old man. As part of the introduction of active retirement, Silvertalent plans to make it even easier for users to find the right job. With Silver+, the startup has introduced AI functionality that can be used to improve motivation letters or practice job interviews.
In its draft law, the Ministry of Finance assumes about 168,000 people per year are interested in active pensions. This means that about one in four eligible people will accept an active retirement offer when they reach retirement age. According to German Pension Insurance, 1.46 million retirees will be working by the end of 2023 – and the trend is increasing.
A survey of 1,125 Silvertalent registered users underscores this development. Therefore, every second retiree plans to work in the future through his active pension. “If work becomes more interesting in old age, the willingness not only increases to actively participate in work life, but also to work longer.” The numbers show that many seniors are ready, they just need the right framework conditions.
However, the German Economic Institute (IW) doubts whether active retirement is really suitable for retaining more elderly workers in the labor market. “The IW survey shows that for the majority of employees who want to work beyond their standard retirement age, motives such as having fun at work and social contact dominate,” explains IW retirement expert Ruth Student. “Financial motives play a lesser role.” Research also shows that once people retire, they rarely start working again.
