Limits of control: the age debate behind the French air traffic controller strike

http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2015/apr/09/limits-of-control-the-age-debate-behind-the-french-air-traffic-controller-strike

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French air traffic controllers began a two-day strike on Wednesday, protesting over working conditions and plans to raise the retirement age for air traffic controllers from 57 to 59.

France’s official retirement age is 62, having increased from 60 under President Nicolas Sarkozy in November 2010.

According to the OECD, the average effective age at which older workers withdraw from the labour force in France is 59.7 for men and 60 for women. In its report on the average effective age and official age of retirement in OECD countries, it found that in most countries, the effective age of retirement was well below the official age for receiving a full old-age pension.

However, retirement for air traffic controllers works slightly differently to other professions. Most EU member states provide early retirement for their air traffic controllers. A 2003 report by Air Eurosafe, discussed the importance of the job’s early retirement policy:

... given the demanding routine of the job, the possibility of early retirement may also attract potential candidates – particularly those wishing to enter, or re-enter the profession later in life.

In the same report, Air Eurosafe provide retirement age profiles of air traffic controllers. At 57, France reports one of the lowest ages after Belgium. The chart below shows them plotted against official retirement age data from the OECD.

Although France’s official retirement age is 62, the OECD have recorded it as 65. The reason for this is that a French worker can retire on a full pension at 62 if they have worked for 41.5 years, but if they started working later, you can only retire on a full pension after 65.

If the retirement age were to rise to 59 it would bring France’s air traffic controllers retirement age in line with that of those in Ireland, Spain, Sweden, UK and Austria. And although it would be further away from the low of 55 for Belgium, it would still be a way off from Finland’s 65.