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French politicians vying for the presidency are being reminded of a topic they'd probably rather avoid.
The ailing retirement system was flagged in a report Thursday by the OECD, which warned that it “requires further reforms” from whoever wins April's election.
“The relatively low average effective retirement age implies high public spending on pensions and low labor participation rates among older workers, which adversely affect medium-term growth,” the Paris-based organization said.
Pensions are a very touchy subject in France. While a 2019 attempt by President Emmanuel Macron to tinker won praise from the OECD as “a move in the right direction,” it also triggered the longest strikes in recent history.
Macron put plans to simplify and re-balance the indebted system on ice when the pandemic struck and has repeatedly postponed restarting the process. He's most recently called for a fresh “democratic debate,” effectively kicking the can beyond next year's vote.
According to the OECD, the effective age at which French exit the labor force is the second-lowest among its 38 members, while life expectancy is among the highest. The “numerous weaknesses” of France's system also include its complexity and the multiple regimes that foster mistrust and undermine labor mobility, it said.
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