Germany to Mandate Pension Savings for Self-Employed as Retirement Age Creeps to 68
21.06.2026 - 01:21:14 | boerse-global.de
A government-appointed pension commission has concluded its work, proposing a sweeping overhaul that would force self-employed professionals, politicians, and corporate executives into Germany’s statutory pension system for the first time. The 13-member panel also recommends making a funded pension scheme compulsory for all workers, modeled on Sweden’s approach, and linking the retirement age to life expectancy.
The report—due to be handed to Chancellor Merz and Labor Minister Bas early this week—envisions a future where today’s 30-year-olds retire at 68, while long-term projections push the age to 70 by the 2090s at the earliest. The core mechanism is a 2:1 formula: for every extra year of life expectancy gained, two-thirds would be added to working life and one-third to retirement.
Under the mandatory funded pension, contributions of 1 to 2 percent of gross wages would be split equally between employers and employees. Combined with the existing pay-as-you-go system, the commission aims to keep the total pension level at 50 percent of average earnings through 2050. Without action, it warns, the level would fall to around 46 percent by 2031, requiring an additional 49 billion euros in tax subsidies.
The current “Rente mit 63” — a subsidized early-retirement option — would be scrapped. In its place, the panel proposes a new model that accounts for a worker’s health status, allowing those with severe health limitations to retire earlier without penalty.
Mothers’ pension credits (Mütterrente) and existing safeguard lines would be preserved. However, the sustainability factor, which automatically adjusts pension benefits to demographic trends, would be fully reactivated from 2032.
The commission also targets the fringe of the labor market. Contribution-free mini-jobs would in future be available only to school students. Recipients of basic social security would see higher pension allowances, designed to make private saving more attractive.
On civil servants, the report leaves options open: either subject them to general pension insurance or restrict the tenured civil-servant status (Verbeamtung) to core sovereign functions. The government has signaled it will move quickly to implement the recommendations if the commission presents a unanimous vote. A broader reform package covering labor market rules and bureaucracy cutting is expected before the summer parliamentary break.
