Pensions: in nine months early retirement falls by 16.5 per cent, in 2024 those who left earlier were under 62 years of age
Between January and September 2024, a total of 577,061 new pension payments were made. Partly as a result of the tightening decided last year by the government, 'advances' stopped at 150,642 (they were 171,800 twelve months earlier) with exits before the age of 62. Overall, women's cheques are on average 37% lower than men's.
by Marco Rogari
2' min read
Key points
2' min read
The effects of the squeeze on early exit channels triggered by the manoeuvre passed by the government last year are becoming increasingly visible. In the first nine months of 2024, there were 150,642 new early pensions liquidated by the Inps, a drop of 16.47% compared to the same period in 2023 when there were 171,800 'advances'. The greatest reduction was recorded among traders (-23.8%) and among civil servants (almost -16%), and the exit occurred on average before the age of 62. This is shown by the latest monitoring of retirement flows carried out by the Institute, chaired by Gabriele Fava, from which it emerges that the total number of pension payments made by the institution has also lightened slightly: 577,061 between January and September of this year compared to 579,121 12 months ago. Recourse to the Opzione Donna (women's option) also fell further: as of 2 October last year, there were 2,749 new treatments paid out, while at the end of September 2023 there were 9,972.
In nine months 577,061 new pensions were paid out: 'only' 26% in early form
In the first nine months of 2024, the Inps paid out a total of 577,061 new pensions: 579,121 twelve months earlier. The incidence of advance payments decreased, accounting for 26% of the total new cheques paid out. The Inps monitoring notes that, in detail, 240,821 old-age pensions were paid out (they were 220,584 in the first nine months of 2023), 150,642 'advanced', 35,614 'disability' and 149,984 survivors' cheques.
The Slowdown in the Race for Early Retirement
The crackdown imposed by the Meloni government with the last budget law (and in fact confirmed with the manoeuvre for 2025 just passed) to discourage recourse to early retirements, first of all by tying Quota 103 to the contributory recalculation of the cheque and extending the exit windows, is working. The new advance payments liquidated by the Inps between January and September 2024 decreased by 16.47% compared to those paid out in the same time frame last year. This drop was particularly marked for the management of traders: -23.8%. But the slowdown is also visible for the management of public employees (almost -16%) and also for the employees' pension fund (-14.8%).
"Advances" before 62
In the first nine months of 2024 those who opted for early retirement did so before the age of 62. In fact, the Inps survey shows that for private employees early retirement was on average at the age of 61.2.
Women's option
.The tightening of the requirements and the narrowing of the target group decided by the government in the last two years have caused a collapse of Opzione donna, the early exit channel, now limited to certain categories of female workers, anchored to the contributory recalculation of the cheque. In the first nine months of the year only 2,749 pensions were paid out with this instrument: there were 9,972 in the same period last year and 11,594 in the whole of 2023.
