On Tuesday, December 6 the annual Conference of the Retirement Guidance Council (Conseil d’orientation des retraites or COR) took place in Paris. The conference addressed the situation of younger generations, as well as their expectations regarding the retirement system.
Since the most recent reforms, young people have shown a keener interest in retirement systems and expressed mounting anxiety about the level of benefits they can expect to receive when they retire. Other developments must be added to these concerns, including longer periods of education, an increasing number of internships and growing job insecurity. These factors, as well as the economic crisis, heighten the sense of uncertainty among youth.

Following an expert analysis of the current state of affairs for young people (their place in society and on the job market, their standard of living and pension entitlements), the debate continued with a discussion on the future retirement of today’s youth. The young participants then took the floor in a round-table discussion on the notion of “intergenerational equity”. In the course of this dialogue, representatives of various youth organizations reflected the opinions and expectations of the categories of young people they represented (manual workers, high school and university students) concerning retirement.

They all agreed that as the reforms particularly affect young people, younger generations should play a more important role in the debate. Indeed, the fact that young people are generally uncertain about their future benefits makes it difficult for them to give meaning to the notion of “intergenerational equity.”

The participants also expressed their desire to consider developments brought about by the evolution of our societies (e.g., periods of unemployment, internships and longer periods of education) when calculating retirement benefits.

The Retirement Guidance Council’s proposal to invite young people was beneficial because their participation contributed to the effectiveness of the debate and identified areas for further discussion.

However, it is perhaps regrettable to note that young people were underrepresented in the audience.