Swedish prime minister: retirement age must be raised

Feb 7, 2012, 13:19 GMT

Stockholm - Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt said Tuesday it was necessary to consider extending working life beyond the traditional 65-year retirement age, to enhance flexibility and shore up pension systems.

Pension and welfare systems are under strain as the population in Sweden, as well as other parts of Europe, is ageing and living longer but is supported by fewer people, Reinfeldt said in an interview with Stockholm daily Dagens Nyheter.

'The countries we compete with (globally) do not share our welfare ambitions. They do not add taxes and fees to their production (costs) to finance large pension systems and welfare. This poses the question: can we make ends meet?' Reinfeldt said.

The interview was published on the eve of informal talks hosted by Reinfeldt in Stockholm, on topics including the role of keeping senior citizens in the labour force, and the promotion of woman entrepreneurs and leaders in the workforce.

Invitees included British Prime Minister David Cameron and the prime ministers of Sweden's Nordic and Baltic neighbours.

The Northern Future Forum opens with a dinner Wednesday and continues Thursday. Round-table discussions are also to include academics and business leaders.

The British prime minister hosted a similar parley a year ago. Reinfeldt told reporters Tuesday that he was not proposing a specific retirement age increase, but rather sought changes aimed at 'enhancing flexibility.'

There was also need to 'bring about a mental change' to show that, in future 'people aged 70 or 75 will to a greater extent be part of working life,' he said.

Current legislation allows Swedish employees to retire at age 61 or work until 67.

Reinfeldt's ideas appeared to win little initial support judging by an online straw poll by the Stockholm tabloid Expressen. Just 2 per cent of about 6,300 readers said they would like to retire at the age of 75, while 56 per cent wanted to retire before 65.

Tomas Eneroth, labour affairs spokesman for the opposition Social Democrats, said it was more important to discuss better work conditions and ways of improving adult education.