During their day in Almedalen, the Social Democrats are presenting a four-part package to increase pensions. The first is a so-called workers' pension.
Magdalena Andersson highlights work groups such as nurses, warehouse workers and electricians, saying they should not be punished with a lower pension because they cannot be expected to work until retirement age.
People the country could not function without, whose contribution to our country is not at all reflected reasonably in their pensions.
Work early bonus
The measure is proposed to be means-tested and should be able to be applied for before the target age, with the aim of increasing the public pension when you retire.
Secondly, S wants to see a broad review of the pension system and investigate a bonus for those who start working early in life.
It's about valuing a long working life and providing a fairer pension, says Mikael Damberg, economic policy spokesperson for S.
For me, it goes without saying that hard work should pay off, even for those who start working straight after high school, says Magdalena Andersson.
Increase payments
The third point is that S, within the pension group - which consists of representatives from the eight parties in the Riksdag - should work to increase contributions to the pension system in order to raise pensions. S wants to see a contribution increase to 18.5 percent from the current 17.2.
According to Minister for the Elderly and Social Insurance Anna Tenje (M), such an increase would cost 20–30 billion. She calls S's proposal "pure populism."
Are hardworking people going to face shockingly high taxes on their work? Or, for that matter, companies? Then I'm not particularly interested.
According to Damberg, the proposal for workers' pensions could be implemented during the next term, without support from the pension group. He calls it a "billion-dollar reform" but cannot give an exact calculation.
But these are not imaginary sums. In a normal budget process, it is possible to include a workers' pension in the public finances.
S's fourth proposal is to investigate a statutory right to reduce working hours between the minimum withdrawal age in the pension system and the target age, so that more people can work longer.
