Retirees who cannot stop working for the price of food, medicine and housing

While in some countries the possibility of extending the retirement age is being debated, in Argentina retirees cannot retire. Between 80 and 90% are forced to continue working, because the monthly income is far below basic needs.

“A few years ago I set up an office to help people of retirement age to complete the process. Almost all of those who come to that office come to see how to avoid retiring”, Eugenio Semino, Ombudsman for the Third Age, commented to PROFILE. Those who attend know that “either they go to the minimum, or they go to a replacement rate of 56%, half of what they earn with their active worker salary,” he added.

Roberto Stampone is 72 years old, receives the minimum pension, and worked until a few months ago, when his health prevented him from continuing. “The time came when the doctor told me that it was not convenient for me to continue,” he told PROFILE. Stampone, due to his great health complications, is considered a risk patient. However, today he continues to look for some activity that he can carry out and allows him extra income. “Today my children help me because it really isn’t enough for me.”

The minimum credit is 70,000 pesos, while “the pensioner’s basket with housing expenses was, as of April 6, 202,000,” Semino explained. “This leads to the fact that immediately after retiring, or before retiring, the majority are looking for work and, since this work is done by necessity, there is an overexploitation of the work of the elderly.” Salaries for this type of job are usually very low, unregistered, and the tasks are “painful and risky,” the gerontologist explained.

María Ester López is 64 years old, is retired with the minimum, rents an apartment and lives alone. She currently works taking care of other older adults and doing clothing repairs. “I am in a job that I go to three times a week. It is not much, but something helps, ”she commented to PROFILE. Even working, it’s not enough either. “What worries me the most is the rent, which is what costs me the most to raise money for.” This month she increased it again and, as she explained, she always has something left over without paying. “He would have to have another entrance to be able to survive with dignity.”

For Semino, “this is an absolutely widespread phenomenon.” Most continue to work until their health allows it, and “to this is added the poor care or lack of care from PAMI,” he explained.

“When I have to bathe the lady I care for, I am swaddled, my bones ache a lot and time takes its toll,” López added.

Semino explained that of the 7,200,000 retirees in the national pension system, 6,100,000 earn the minimum or a little more than the minimum, something “that has nothing to do with their work history or with the basket of basic needs”.

Susana Lourdes Reig is 74 years old and, despite being retired, she continues to give private English classes. “I continue working because I am drowning with what comes from retirement,” she said in dialogue with this medium. “Before, I lived quite well, making extra expenses, giving myself a few treats. Since the 18th of the month I have not had a peso, I have to manage with the help of my children, ”she commented. She earns a little more than the minimum and she began to work first out of necessity and later because depending less on other people and preparing classes “comforts me,” she concluded.

Daniel Andreasen is 66 years old and has a workshop for the sale and installation of CNG equipment. Never stop working. “I continue because I need to and because leaving work is a blow after so many years,” he told PROFILE. He is currently thinking of strategies to be able to work less so that his and his family’s economy does not suffer so much. “I am thinking about the possibility of leaving or renting what I have,” he added. The idea is to be able to rest, give up expenses, “and try to live a little better.”

Many retirees, despite working their entire lives and making large contributions, retire with an amount that is below the poverty level. “The one who has to make an ordinary retirement, because all the contributions, he does not have a turn, because the only turns that are being given are for moratoriums,” explained Semino. “Every one that enters into a moratorium is a vote,” he opined.

For the gerontologist “the great adjustment of the economy is about the social security sector.” The specialist explained this with a piece of information: in 2020 the incidence of security on GDP was 9 points and today, with more retirees and pensioners, it is 7.5 points. “That saving is what the Minister of Economy shows to international organizations,” he concluded.

Stampone, López, Reig and Andreasen are just some of the visible faces of that adjustment.