Katz considers increasing retirement age for women from 62 to 64
Previously, Feminist groups prevented any change in upping the existing retirement age for women.
By HAGAY HACOHENJudge Nili Arad, nominated as the National Labor Court president, following Judge Steve Adler's retirement after 35 years in the judicial system. November 15 2010(photo credit: YOSSI ZAMIR/FLASH90)
Finance Minister Israel Katz is looking into the option of upping the retirement age of women from 62 to 64 or even 65.Such a step might be worked into the upcoming Arrangements Law when it is presented to the Knesset, The Marker reported Monday.Tied to an effort to pass a budget, the Arrangements Law tends to contain politically sensitive topics MKs might not otherwise be quick to approve.When serving as Knesset speaker a decade ago, Reuven Rivlin warned that the order had been reversed, and that the budget is now an addition to the Arrangements Law.“This is undemocratic,” Rivlin told Globes at the time, arguing that the Knesset’s ability to oversee the government is “passing from this world.”The age of retirement for women is a politically sensitive topic. Previously, feminist groups had been able to successfully push back attempts to keep women in the job market past the age of 62. A study released by Adva Center in 2017 points to the fact that not all women are the same. Some work as cleaners while others are teachers or social workers, and some are top bankers and lawyers.It’s unclear how productive it would be to legally push a cleaning woman or a math teacher into working two extra years near the end of their careers. The report claimed that, in reality, the average retirement age for women is 66 due to a fear among the elderly that current pensions won’t be enough to cover their basic needs. Similar arguments can be made concerning the retirement age for men, now at 67.The issue raises to the surface the relation between the young and the old. If women are obliged to work more years, there will be less of a burden on the National Insurance Institute for pension funds. Some argue that the increase in life span means the state will not be able to offer even low pensions unless women work longer. Others claim that due to the high birth rate, the state could in theory tax the young workforce to keep its obligations to the old.In France, both genders retire at 63, while in the US, retirement age is 66. The only other OECD nation like Israel is Poland, where men retire at 65 and women at 60.Due to the previous government decision to offer unemployment benefits until June 2021, it’s expected that women who already retired and might find themselves in the unusual situation of being pensioners before the Arrangements Law is passed – and working members of society once it is approved – will be able to collect those benefits.It is also expected that asking women to work more years would be a step the public is willing to accept during an age of COVID-19 economic recession.
