By Leo Byrne, Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – A report found that on average men who retire and collect pension payments continue to work for 7.3 years, while women continue with their jobs for 5.4 years. In Brazil it is possible for people who have made payment contributions for a certain number of years to continue in their employment, while also claiming their full pension.
The study was released Monday by the Institute of Applied Economic Research (IPEA) and suggests that Brazilian workers are beginning to receive their pensions long before they lose the ability to work.
Brazilian men who work in the private sector can begin to claim their pensions after 35 years of contributions, or at 65 years of age (providing they have made contributions for fifteen years).
The figures are slightly lower for women who need pay contributions for thirty years and can retire at sixty. For public servants, there is a minimum age of 55 for women and sixty for men, thirty and 35 years of contribution period, respectively.
“Whereas the increase in life expectancy has been accompanied by improvement in health conditions, and given the concern about aging and the reduction in the near future the supply of labor, it is important to create policies to keep the worker on the active largest possible number of years,” the researchers propose in the IPEA study.
A further revision advocated by the IPEA team concerned women. According to the researchers, even with higher life expectancy than men, women tend to retire earlier, a benefit that was intended to offset the cost of motherhood, and therefore receive pension benefits for longer.
“The higher female life expectancy combined with the increasing participation of women in the labor market and changes in the family are requiring a reassessment of the contribution by women,” the report added.
IPEA’s president, Marcelo Neri also noted that last year had been a strong year for Brazil’s labor market and that the low GDP growth in 2012 had not yet translated into problems for the average employee. However the IPEA did not give a prediction about whether this would continue into 2013.
A ten-year low in unemployment figures continued to display a downward trend all year, hitting their lowest point of 4.6 percent in December.
Read more (in Portuguese).
* The Rio Times Daily Updates feature is offered to help keep you up-to-date with important news as it happens.