Two more years of work: Why French protesters feel ignored on pensions

It’s a frigid February afternoon; just above freezing. But it’s the first sunny day in weeks and there is a palpable energy outside the Paris Opera, where thousands have gathered in protest against the French government’s proposed reform to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64. Raphael Alberto stands in a circle with his co-workers, holding a turquoise union banner.

“Today, the government says [the retirement age] will be 64, tomorrow, they might say it’s 67,” says Mr. Alberto, a junior-high school teacher in nearby Montreuil. “When will it stop?”

Mr. Alberto, like many protesters here, says working conditions have deteriorated in recent years and he’s afraid he won’t be healthy enough to enjoy his retirement by the time he takes it. “We’re one of the last countries to have this system, where we pay for our parents’ retirement and then young people pay for us,” he says. “It’s a true system of solidarity.”

Mr. Alberto, like most French protesters, says he’s fighting to save a sacred – but broken – pension system. But as the government’s retirement reform bill is debated at the National Assembly this month, there is an increasing disconnect between the public and the government about how best to do that.

The government has said that unless the French work longer, the numbers simply don’t add up: Without reform, the pension system will not be able to sustain itself for future generations. And though protesters say this is precisely their main concern, they don’t think working into old age is the right answer.

With one month before the bill is put to a final vote, big questions remain about how to bridge the gap: How can the government inject new life into an ailing system without antagonizing a large swath of the French public? And is it time for the French to rethink their approach to work?

“What French people want is to be heard, that the government addresses their problems. And one of the big problems is working conditions,” says Dominique Méda, a sociologist at the Institute for Interdisciplinary Research in the Social Sciences at Paris Dauphine University – PSL. “The French have high hopes towards work but they’re simply terribly disappointed by it ... and their government. So this [reform] just feels like a provocation.”

A system in need of change

France first put a retirement system in place in 1930, guaranteeing a full pension for those who paid into the system for 30 years. As the decades passed, it went through several iterations, but by the early 1990s, it was in financial trouble.

In 1993, the government launched what became the first of countless reforms. Since then, it has toyed with changing the minimum age or using a points system based on years worked. But the pension system has become central to French citizens’ image of their society.

“The golden years for France came after the Second World War, when the French republic and society functioned relatively well,” says Michel Wieviorka, a French sociologist. “But now, everything from hospitals to schools are deteriorating and people want to defend the things that were acquired during those times, like the retirement system.”

As the French became increasingly attached to their social protections, there was the expectation that the system functioned well. But even though 30 million people pay social contributions to pensions for 16 million retirees, that only pays for 79% of state retirements today. The government has said that due to a rise in life expectancy and the eventual ratio between those paying contributions and retirees, the deficit will reach €1.8 billion ($1.9 billion) this year and €43.9 billion ($46.8 billion) in 2050 without a reform.

According to research by the Retirement Guidance Council (COR), an independent consulting group for the government, these calculations don’t take into account things like inflation and future rising salaries. They say that a more accurate projection, based on GDP, puts the deficit in 2050 at eight times what it is today, versus the government’s 24 times.

Still, there is no doubt that the system is in trouble.

“There are unions saying, let’s focus solely on years worked and not a minimum legal age, but this isn’t what [the reform is] doing,” said Astrid Panosyan-Bouvet, deputy for Paris, member of the social affairs commission focusing on retirement, and member of President Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance Party.

“There is a deficit and an urgency that we need to fix [this system] today,” she said, speaking to the Anglo-American Press Association in Paris. “We think it’s a balanced reform and we’re aiming to reach an even better balance by 2030.”

But some have questioned whether the situation is as urgent as the government contends and whether simple math is enough to make up for the missing funds. Vincent Viet, a historian and researcher on social and health policy at the Cermes3 research center, says that because statistically people have more health problems starting at age 60, moving back the retirement age may increase health care costs for workers who would otherwise have left the job market. This could counteract the savings that the reforms are meant to create.

“We should be asking ourselves about the viability of this reform, as well as its impact on and future cost to the health system,” says Mr. Viet. “People are going to get to retirement age in poor health. We need a reform, but we should question whether there are other alternatives.”

The French and work

Indeed, many French protesters worry about not just the daily grind of working extra years, but what this reform will mean in terms of their ability to enjoy retirement. Already, France rates on the low end of the European spectrum when it comes to “disability-free life expectancy” – the number of years lived free of activity limitations due to health problems – at 63.7 years, compared to 74 in Sweden and 70 in Spain, according to 2019 Eurostat research.

Observers say part of that is due to a steady decline in working conditions and an increase in labor inequalities. France has one of the highest levels of accidents at work in Europe and one of the lowest self-reported working conditions, according to a 2021 survey by Eurofound. It takes six generations for someone to move out of poverty here.

So when President Macron said last year that the French worked fewer hours than their European counterparts, it lit a renewed fire among many who felt that the government did not understand their hardships while suggesting a certain ingrained laziness.

According to research from 2021, the French worked less than the OECD average – 1,490 hours per year, compared to 1,716. But some French think tanks have suggested that these numbers only take a macroeconomic approach and ultimately don’t show the full picture, such as how countries calculate things like vacation days and maternity leave.

“In various studies, the French say that work is very important to them, not just the salary but what they get out of it personally,” says Ms. Méda, the sociologist. “French people are not lazy, they just don’t feel recognized for their work.”

France consistently ranks amongst the most productive countries in the world, and in some categories – like part-time work – the French put in more time than the European average.

Those in physically demanding, low-paying, or part-time jobs, in particular, feel unfairly targeted by the reform. Many feel that they shouldn’t have to sacrifice anything else in order for the retirement system to thrive. Rather, they say, the government should replenish the retirement fund by tapping into other accounts, instead of asking for more from an already stretched-thin public.

“Education, health, it all has to cost something, but that’s why we pay taxes,” says protester Stéphane Leguem-Escuriol, an English teacher in a Paris-based vocational school. “We’re more productive [than other countries] but the money doesn’t go back to the people. It’s obviously not going to the right place.” 

But such arguments don’t engage with the main problem: All government programs, including the retirement system, are paid for by the public, and the retirement system is getting more expensive.

The government says that it knows it still has work to do. It has admitted to inequities within the reform – such as its repercussions on women – and has promised to address them. Four out of ten workers will still be able to leave earlier if they started earlier in the labor market, according to Ms. Panosyan-Bouvet.

But for the French to feel vindicated – and stop them from continuing regular protest efforts that threaten to shut down the country – they say the government needs to make more than just baby steps toward them.

“I’m not living my life just to get to retirement, but when I get there, I want to be healthy enough to enjoy it,” says Emilie Ducamp, the director of a daycare center in southwest France, who came to the Paris protest with her husband and two young daughters.

“We’re here because we want to show our daughters why people are angry, and to show them that they have a voice. And that together, we have power.”