The reform of the Italian pension system in 2019: a worsening of the social security system's unsustainable inequality?

Abstract

This article begins by examining the legal system which regulates the age and years of contributions requirements for retirement in Italy. In particular, it analyses the main change introduced with Decree Law no. 4/2019: early retirement upon reaching the "100 quota", which requires at least 38 years of social security contributions and an age of 62 years, provided that these are obtained by 2021, at the latest. This is a reduction of 5 years in age with respect to the previous retirement requirements. This 2019 legislative intervention, likewise, has suspended the legal consideration of life expectancy which automatically increased retirement requirements until 2026 (established by a significant change in regulation applied in 2010-2011). The author's opinion is that these recent benefits for retirement are a privilege which is incoherent with the evolution of the Italian pension system of the last few decades. Secondly, this study goes on to contextualise the aforementioned legal framework, through the use of the principal economic and demographic data which characterises the Italian pension system. Given this statistical data, the author believes that the Italian system suffers from a series of inequalities which jeopardise economic and social viability in the medium-long term. The most significant inequality is generational, since it puts young workers at a disadvantage.