Married women have lower pensions
For many older women, marriage is still considered a retirement plan, because these women can barely rely on their own pensions. This is particularly the case for women who have been married for a long time, according to a study by WZB researcher Anette Fasang. Together with Silke Aisenbrey (New York) and Klaus Schömann (Bremen), she examined retirement income of (West) German and British women who were born between 1930 and 1940. The researchers calculated that in Germany every year of marriage means averaged 15.40 euros less per month of pension income, compared with women of the same age who never married. In Great Britain, the difference between married and unmarried women is only around five euros.
The researchers believe that one reason behind the lower pensions of married women in Germany is because they interrupted work longer or gave it up completely and worked in lower paid jobs. Anette Fasang’s explanation of the difference between the two countries is: "In Britain, women in this age group were more frequently employed, in part because tax splitting does not exist." The study reviewed the total retirement income of women, including pensions from the state, as well as employer funded occupational pensions and private pensions.
However, comparing pension payments of single women in this group, Germans clearly have the advantage. West German women who never married have, at the age of 60, a pension income of 1062 Euro on average; 532 Euro more per month than British women. This is due to the different pension schemes: In Great Britain, state pensions are designed to only meet basic needs. Women, especially if they work part-time, often had no possibility to accumulate occupational or private pensions. In Germany, public pension funds are more generous for these age groups, which leads to higher pensions among women, even if they have very limited access to occupational and private pensions similar to their British counterparts.
Working full time also paid off more for women aged 70 to 80 years in Germany than in Britain today. For each year that a German woman worked full-time, she receives 18.50 euros more in monthly pension payments — as opposed to 4.60 euros more that a woman in Britain receives. Even a part-time job — with a monthly pension increase of 11.10 euros — is more attractive in Germany than a full-time job in Great Britain. The reason: In Germany, many women have part-time jobs in the well-protected public sector; in Great Britain, however, part time jobs are concentrated in the poorly paid service sector with low job-security and little benefits.
Divorce or death of a spouse are also better protected in Germany. Widows in Germany are financially much better off than in Great Britain: They have 360 euros more per month than British widows.
For the study, the authors examined life histories of approximately 1.000 women who reached retirement age between 1990 and 2005. For (West) Germany, the data comes from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) and from the British Household Panel Study for the UK.
The study “Women's Retirement Income in Germany and Britain” is published in the journal European Sociological Review and is available online.
Media contact
Prof. Dr. Anette Eva Fasang,Tel.: 030-25491-434, E-mail: anette.fasang [at] wzb.eu
Claudia Roth, Tel.: 030-25491-510, E-mail: claudia.roth [at] wzb.eu