Arbeit, Leistungsgerechtigkeit und Alterssicherung im deutschen Wohlfahrtsstaat

The article analyses the consequences of the recent political reforms in the area of labour market and old-age provisions with a particular focus on the situation of the elderly and resulting social inequality. It is argued that the importance of individual payments made into pension provisions during employment has significantly increased. The employees’ contributions determine the subsequent financial situation in retirement. This means that the significance of individual social insurance contributions as the central norm for old-age provision has increased since the recent reforms – and therefore claims against the pension insurance have also increased. The underlying “merit principle” has become intensified as the central norm of the German system of old-age provision. In addition, in pension policies contributions for old-age care play a more prominent role. These tendencies are not confined to the statutory pension insurance, but also for the so-called “three-pillar-model”. However, at the same time, the opportunities for the individual to make pension contributions - as envisaged by social policy – have been reduced due to unemployment, precarious employment, and longer vocational training time. Hence, as the foundations of the “merit principle” erode, the direction of recent policy reforms is even more problematic. The article concludes by sketching out options for reform to ease the tensions of social and economic developments on the one hand and recent reforms of pension policies on the other.