The former Minister of Economy during the presidency of Mauricio Macri, Nicolas Dujovneproposed equalizing the retirement age of women with that of men and bringing both to the 68 years.
The reform he proposes would mean three more years than current in men and eight more in women.
“Argentina has to modify the retirement age, today it is 65 years for men and 60 for women. If we look at the life expectancy of women, it is higher than that of men. In the world, there are no countries that have the difference of five years, Argentina with five years of difference is one of those with the greatest difference, when almost everyone is moving towards equal retirement,” the former minister remarked.
He recalled that in Argentina “the retirement age has not been modified since 1993 and from then until now life expectancy in Argentina has increased three years.”
“Minimum would have to be 63 and 68, keeping everything the same, but I would unify at 68. In the case of women, you could probably take into account the periods of maternity, in which there were also no contributions, to correct the retirement age. That would generate considerable savings and must be done gradually. In the case of men it can be done four months per year and in women one year per year,” said Dujovne at the NOA Economic Forum, organized by the Federalism and Freedom Foundation of Tucumán.
He highlighted that with this change, we can go from a pension expense of 8 or 9 points of GDP to 4 or 5, with better assets for those who retire: “If we look 10 years ahead, we could generate great savings, have a better fiscal result, better pensions, a fairer system. If we don’t do it, we will spend 14 points of GDP in ten years.”
On the other hand, it established as a starting point to eliminate moratoriums and establish a tiered system.
“We have a binary system. He who contributed 30 years has a retirement and he who He contributed 29 years and 11 months and has no retirement. It is common for us to blame the politics of moratoriums. We have to generate a system by which we can throw the key to the moratoriums out the window, so that there are no more. And that is done by generating a system that has some proportionality for years contributed, the one who contributed 20 years will not have the retirement of the one who contributed 30 years,” he noted.
Dujovne questioned that in Argentina “several benefits accumulate, we can see it with some former president, and that does not happen in the world. There is a transition period so that one can accommodate if the spouse dies, for a time they can coexist the pension and retirement, but the benefits are individual. Argentina spends close to two points of GDP on derived benefits.
He also asked eliminate most of the privilege regimes that allow early retirement.
The appearance of Dujovne from Tucumán occurs when the Government achieved the opinion of the new Base Law that implies, for the vast majority of women (more than 75%), raising the retirement age from 60 to 65 years.
The project repeals Law 27,705, the last and most important pension moratorium (“Pension Debt Payment Unit”) approved in March 2023, for 2 years, extendable for another two.
And women who, with 30 or more years of contributions or with the moratorium They can retire from the age of 60Due to the very high female informality, if the moratorium is repealed from now on they will only be able to access a Proportional Retirement Benefit at age 65.
