Early retirement pensions to fall by 14.15 per cent in the first half of 2024: Inps Observatory analysis

After the shift from Quota 102 to Quota 103 in 2023 and the further tightening triggered for this year by the latest Meloni budget law, the race for early pensions is slowing down considerably. In the first six months of 2024, the Inps disbursed 99,707 of them, for an average amount of 2054 euro, 14.15% less than the 116,143 in the same period last year, when 228,570 cheques were reached at the end of December. Photographing this slowdown is the latest monitoring of retirement flows by the Inps Observatory, from which it emerges that between January and June the institute led by Gabriele Fava disbursed a total of 376,919 new treatments, averaging 1,197 euros per month. The survey by the Inps also highlights how the women's option, following the further crackdown triggered by the latest manoeuvre, is being used less and less: in the first six months, only 2,107 applications were paid out, compared to 11,576 in the whole of 2023. Most of these treatments (886) have an amount of less than one thousand euros per month. The 'social security gender gap' remains marked: in the first six months of 2024, pension benefits were paid to women with an average amount of €992, 30.58% less than that paid to men (€1,429).

The monitoring shows that in the first six months of the year, in addition to the 99,707 'advanced' pensions, 152,641 new old-age pensions, 22,730 invalidity pensions, and 101,841 survivors' allowances were paid. With regard to the Employees' Fund alone, 'advance payments' and survivors' allowances are equivalent, absorbing 31% of the payments made. For the management of self-employed workers (direct cultivators, traders and artisans) the weight of 'advances' is reduced to 24% (old age at 40%), while it remains at 46% for the management of civil servants.

Between January and June 2024, a total of 376,919 new pensions with an average amount of EUR 1,197 were liquidated by the Inps. Allowances, on average, ranged from an average of EUR 820 per month for disability, to an average of EUR 892 for old-age pensions up to an average of EUR 2,054 for 'early' pensions.

The new pensions paid out to female workers have an average amount of €992: 30.58% lower than that paid to men (€1,429). This phenomenon is largely due to the lower incidence of early pensions paid in the first six months of 2024 to women (less than one third), which are those based on a higher number of years of contributions and therefore higher, namely 30,053 out of 99,707. Moreover, women also receive the largest share of survivors' benefits, which have lower amounts on average.

Inps reports that a total of 832,900 pensions were disbursed with effect from 2023, for an average monthly amount of EUR 1,201 on commencement. In particular, there were 318,86 old-age pensions (including social allowances), 228,570 'advanced' pensions, 56,975 disability pensions and 228,489 survivors' allowances.