In Italy there are over 1.5 million pensioners who continue to carry out an activity, while the weight of “mature” workers grow, supported by the new economic incentives. And young people struggle to find an outlet
We will have to go to work accompanied by the caregiver ». When the latest pension reform was passed, which established the increase in retirement age, there was a choir of protests. Many imagined the emergence of dramatic situations: parents to look after, various ailments, bad health, dancer memory and whoever has more. An almost apocalyptic scenario that made the presence at work over 60 years of age incompatible. So much so that companies, taking advantage of this wave of cultural youth, began to offer employees the most varied formulas of early outputs, encouraged by generous fees.
Everything, therefore, seemed to go perfectly: there was a law on the retirement age that put Italy sheltered from the contestations of Brussels, but there were also many solutions to “give it to legs” before with all peace of peace, of the companies that could thus get rid of “ninety pieces” (from a salary point of view), taking young people from the most light paychecks, while the fifty-session. Equal and the employment market saw unexpected entrance doors open. An almost perfect system. But, at a certain point, a few seniors, perhaps in an overdose of travel, burraco games and grandchildren management has started to feel nostalgia for work, given that – among many mongies – he also had satisfactions, especially cheap. With the advance of the years the expenses multiply, especially the healthcare ones, and even an average pension is no longer enough.
At the same time, companies realized that getting rid of those who considered a burden, meant entering the deficit of skills and experience. So here is the backfront.
With the coveted coupon in his pocket, the hunt begins to a new job. For the most qualified they can be advice in their own field (the seniors are courted by companies), while for the majority they are “chores”, sometimes exempted.
And there is no shortage of the rules that facilitate the return to work. A decree of 2008, in fact, ordered the abolition of the prohibition of accumulation between pension and self -employed income and employee both in the case of the remuneration pension and the contribution or mixed one, that is, regardless of the fact that the worker began before or after 31 December 1995 (date of the transition from the remuneration to the contribution system). In addition, the contributions paid in the period in which the elderly continues an activity generate a pension supplement. There are some exceptions to the accumulation such as exits with shares and social bee, but in general the legislation favors those who want to continue working.
Recently, then, a sentence of the Court of Auditors of Molise (n. 34 of March 4, 2025) established the possibility of conferring paid assignments for training, support and assistance within the public administration to retired staff. However, the Court reiterated that this mechanism must be an exception and not the rule, in order to guarantee the generational change. The goal is not to reintegrate informally figures already retired, but to allow the training of the new staff.
And given that the recall of the state staff in retirement for the support of the hires is not uncommon for it to occur, the INPS has also updated the rules and with a circular (n.57 of 11 March 2025) has also provided for these figures the disease allowance. Icing on the cake, the Giorgetti bonus. The Budget Law 2025 has provided for a net increase in the paycheck, which can reach 6,900 euros per year, for those who renounce the early retirement, despite having the requirements at the end of 2025. It is a question of immediately receiving the contribution fee – the famous 9.19 percent of the gross salary – which normally ends in the INPS coffers. It concerns those who have the right to retire with the so -called “103 share” (ie 62 years of age and 41 of contributions) or those who reach the requirements for ordinary early retirement (42 years and 10 months of contributions for men and 41 years and 10 months for women). According to the simulations of the Ministry of Economy, a worker with an annual gross salary by 35 thousand euros, he would see his net salary by about 530 euros increase every month. The amount varies according to the salary: the higher the gross remuneration, the greater the benefit.
The reasons not to put on the bench are many. And the numbers confirm it. Istat certifies that the occupation rate of Old Worldrs grows four times more than young people. The phenomenon manifested itself first in the United States where according to a new Research Center study, one in five American with at least 65 years is still active (almost double in 1987). But the most surprising thing is that the 75 -year -old group is the more quick ascent one. In Italy, the percentage of workers between 50 and 64 years of age exceeded in 2022, according to a search for inapp-plus, 37 percent, growing 27 percent on 2012.
A study by the CNA, the artisan association, says that in ten years, companies with owners and members aged 30 to 49, have decreased from 48.8 percent to 30.8 percent. Today the artisan companies with Over 50 holders constitute 46.4 percent of the total, while with ultra seventy -year -olds they almost doubled.
The European Statistics Institute, Eurostat, in a report on 2023, says that in Europe 13.2 percent of retirees continues to work with peaks of over 40 percent in Finland, Lithuania and Estonia. In Italy there are over 1.5 million. Those who doubt the productivity of the over 60 are denied by a research by the British Medical Association according to which there is no concrete proof that the older workers are less productive than young people. Only 5 percent over 65 years of age show cognitive defaillance and in any case experience and skills can compensate for a drop in speed.
The Bloomberg agency recently reported the news that the energy market in Europe, with the boom in renewable sources, has become so attractive as to unleash a race for senior talents. Some traders are taking into consideration the idea of not retiring also because the extreme volatility of prices creates profitable opportunities for those who are expert in the sector. Which also applies to scholars. Davide Tabarelli, president of Nomisma Energia, 65 years old, says that he has no intention of retiring: «In the world of research and advice we see increasingly frequent cases of people on the years who continue their activity. And they are disputed by universities and companies. I know ninety -year -olds who are still a point of reference for industries, for their wealth of skills. Then arrived at a certain age, I speak of satisfactory intellectual activities, we have released from the logic of the salary and can be concentrated on what you really like ».
However, this applies to a minority of people, comments Maurizio Del Conte, professor of work law at Bocconi: «In Italy the choice of active retirement is usually dictated by the need to round off. While in the rest of Europe the system is organized with redevelopment and training courses, in our country the do-it-yourself prevails that translates into “black” work. The experiences of part -time contracts for the elderly flanked to young people with mentoring function were a failure ». Del Conte adds that “on the phenomenon of the Old Workers, he also engraved the modification of the family model. Once the grandparents devoted themselves to grandchildren, but now low birth rate and dismemberment of families have deprived the elderly of this role. So we return to work ».
And the young people? Someone may also take advantage of the highest entrances of the parent to have help but, in general, with multiple doors barred on the labor market, escape abroad is sometimes obliged.
