Press releases

In all European countries, people continue working longer than before. Yet the low-educated exit the labour market earlier than the high-educated. In Finland, the effective exit age, that is, the age at which people leave the labour market, has increased relatively much.

The second corona year proved very favourable for pension investors, with an average nominal return on pension investments of 15.8 per cent and a real return of 11.9 per cent. The total assets rose to 256 billion euros. Good solvency safeguards pensions also in volatile global situations.

Sweden, Finland and Denmark stand out with the highest effective retirement ages in a comparison of the Nordic countries and Estonia. Although Finns have postponed retirement markedly in the 2010s, they still exit the labour market at the youngest age. Icelandic, Norwegian and Finnish women spend the longest time in retirement.

One third of 63–80-year-old retirees work or are interested in working while drawing an old-age pension, a recent study (in Finnish only) by the Finnish Centre for Pensions shows. Many retirees would like to work to get something meaningful to do. However, retirees find that their age might be an obstacle to working in retirement. The analysis based on a survey was published in the social policy journal Yhteiskuntapolitiikka.

The printed pension record posted to private sector workers contains information from only the most recent years. Data spanning the worker’s entire working history is available on the online pension record.

Most pension funds included in our comparison reached a real return of 10–20 per cent. The Swedish AP funds, part of the public pension system, performed particularly well, scoring highest in all compared categories. The year was favourable also for Finnish pension investors, particularly for Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Company.

Nearly one third of all pensions in Finland are higher than 2,000 euros per month. Every third Finn receives a monthly pension of less than 1,250 euros. The gender gap in pensions remained unchanged.

Although the employment rate in Finland has exceeded its pre-corona level, the number of long-term unemployed has not improved. Many of those who lost their jobs during the pandemic are still unemployed. Focus should be put on the hard-to-employ, particularly those with disabilities and immigrants. A state-owned special assignment company Työkanava has been established to create meaningful jobs for people with disabilities.

In 2021, the number of new retirees on a disability pension declined by more than eight per cent. The decline was evenly distributed between the main disease categories. Mental disorders continue to be the most common cause for retirement on a disability pension. The single most common cause is depression – on average, it causes nine persons a day to retire on a disability pension.

Nearly three out of four employers state that working with typical tasks at the workplace until age 65 is possible. Yet, according to a new study by the Finnish Centre for Pensions, most employers doubt that working lives will be extended at their own place of business.