Will the retirement age be raised again? The ZUS President has spoken out

The President of the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) Zbigniew Derdziuk gave an interview to Dziennik Gazeta Prawna. When asked how he assessed the financial condition of the Institution, he assessed it as “very good”, emphasizing that he separates it from the situation of the Social Insurance Fund. The latter is “good and in line with forecasts”.

Derdziuk admits in an interview that the trend cannot be cheated – Polish society is getting older, and this affects the efficiency of the social security system. – In the 1990s, around 750,000 young people entered the job market each year. Now, that number is definitely lower. In addition, fewer and fewer children are being born – around 270,000 in 2023 – says the head of ZUS.

ZUS President on raising retirement age

The daily’s interlocutor states that the annual deficit of the pension fund expressed as a percentage of GDP may grow from 2.2% in 2023 to 2.9% in the years 2025-2030. In response to the fact that it would be a rational decision to raise the retirement age, Derdziuk recalls that the previous government of Donald Tusk raised the retirement age, which was a “rational decision”. – But for political reasons, the next government reversed this decision. In my opinion, there is no room today to raise the retirement age – says Derdziuk.

In response to the argument that withdrawing from raising the retirement age is “cowardice and being guided solely by election stunts, and not by responsibility for the generation that will receive penny pensions in the future”, the head of ZUS replied: “I will insist that this is rational, but only very short-term”. – But to avoid the worst-case scenario, we need to convince young people to stay professionally active for as long as possible – Derdziuk emphasized.

As we recently reported, the number of people who continue to be professionally active despite reaching retirement age is growing. According to ZUS data, at the end of 2023, there were 854,000 working retirees in the entire country, compared to 826,000 a year earlier and 747,000 in 2018. This means that over the course of five years, there has been a 14% increase.

Let us recall that Zbigniew Derdziuk became the president of ZUS at the end of April this year. He returned to this position after a 9-year break. It was during his previous term in office (2009-2015) that the pension reform was carried out, assuming a gradual increase and equalization of the retirement age for women and men to 67. The decision in this matter was made in 2012 by Donald Tusk’s government, five years later the PiS government restored the old retirement age – 60 for women and 65 for men.