In just four months, the number of employed pensioners doubled, surging from 36,000 to 78,000 by the end of 2023, as documented in a report by Roula Salaourou in Kathimerini.
This notable rise in pensioners disclosing their employment status can be attributed to the abolition, since the onset of 2024, of the practice of deducting 30% from the pensions of those concurrently engaged in work. This percentage had peaked at 60% back in 2019. By March 2024, the average primary pension had reached 818 euros.
If a pensioner is found to be working without declaring it, the penalty involves withholding 12 pension payments.
“Along with the mandated insurance contributions, freelancers such as farmers face an additional 10% deduction from their earnings. As highlighted by Deputy Minister of Labour Panos Tsakloglou, this measure bolsters pensioners’ income streams, fostering the augmentation of their current earnings and future pensions.
The accumulated additional insurance time counts towards their overall pensionable duration, leading to an increase in pension amounts.
The Ministry of Labor’s decision to abolish the withholding aims to accurately capture the true count of working pensioners, thereby eliminating unreported employment (“under the table work”). According to ministry projections, if the current rate of declaration submissions persists, the number of reported working pensioners is expected to exceed 100,000.
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