Not that I blame them much—the journos and the pundits who can’t be bothered to figure out how the French retirement system works, it’s probably too complicated for their tiny journo brains. But they could at least have tried.
So: the basics. in America, you’re vested in Social Security after a total of 40 semesters, or the equivalent of 10 years of earning a paycheck that pays into the system. You can cash in at age 65, at the earliest. In France, is used to be, you were vested into la retraite (retirement benefits) at age 62 at the earliest, now upped to 64.
Small difference? No. Because in France you used to need 168 semesters to earn your retirement. That’s the equivalent of 42 years on the job. The present plan would raise this to 172 semesters, or 43 years. Under the new plan, then, you would have to hold a job without interruption from age 21 on to collect your full pension. You work abroad, you travel abroad, you study abroad, you lose. You take time off to raise the kids, you lose, and this is particularly important because it’s expected that Mami and Papi (the grandparents) will take care of the kids after retirement, but if they can’t retire either, you have a domino effect from one generation to another.
And, of course, you take time off to start a business, you lose, and this may be the most important factor, because the neo-liberal government claims to favor entrepreneurship, but in reality only those with serious amounts of capital in the family can afford to work on their own because of the enormous amount of patrimoine (inherited wealth) required, and available to some. The opportunities for social mobility through individual initiative are close to nil. Bottom line: the French retirement system is devised to keep the workers working in the same profession, at the same level, for most of their lives, while restricting opportunities for capital formation to the wealthy and the upper middle classes. You’d think our American business types would hate that, wouldn’t you? Right?
Right?
So now you know.
Here is an extensive discussion of the process and numbers in France and in Europe. In French. Sorry.
https://twitter.com/DenisPayre/status/1641777360998477824?s=20
Minor correction: as in France, so in America: you may choose to be vested as early as age 62, but with reduced payments from Social Security.