All you never wanted to know about retirement

At a time when demographic pressure and a crisis in the public finances are forcing all European countries to question their retirement system and the employment of senior citizens, the subject of retirement at the age of sixty, a vestige of François Mitterand’s presidency and the jewel in the crown of French social security, has not lost its popularity as recent strong opposition to the reforms of 2010 showed. But is retiring at the age of sixty (or sixty-two) really reasonable when French life expectancy has increased from seventy-four in 1981 to eighty-one in 2009 ? ‘No’ say those who are in charge of pension funds. Yet, when these engineering students in the course of writing their 3rd-year thesis at the Ecole des Mines met numerous people in the field, they were able to assess the magnitude of the factors which drive employees to stop working at the earliest possible time, and also the companies which encourage them to do so. When those who want to retire early do so, it makes it difficult for young people who are currently contributing to their own future retirement. In an ageing population, there will be fewer people who will be contributing. Therefore, there is cause for concern about the future of the French retirement system.