Why the entry threshold remains high

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After several attempts, citizens finally managed to agree on a compromise and adopt an amendment to the Federal Law on Occupational Pensions (FZP) at the final vote on Friday. Left parties, on the contrary, will hold a referendum. They announced this even before it became clear what the changes in the law would look like.

I limit myself here to the threshold of entry. This was a contentious point on which the national and state councils could not agree after several debates and disagreements. A compromise was found only on Wednesday at the unification conference, where members of both public commissions gathered.

The entry threshold is only slightly lowered from the current CHF 22,050 to CHF 19,845. This means that only persons who exceed this annual income are subject to compulsory occupational pension insurance, 2nd pillar.

“If you want to improve the status of women, you must insure lower incomes,” said Erich Ettlin of the Mitte party, chairman of the State Council’s social commission. That is why the National Council even wanted to lower the annual minimum wage to CHF 12,863 on first reading a year ago. After all, in the fall, before the AHV vote, they promised to do something for women in the 2nd stage.

It is now clear that many low-paid workers, and therefore women, do not want a low entry threshold at all. At least that’s what the politicians on the left say. They fought against the fact that people with already low incomes would still have to settle for deductions from wages just to receive a minimum pension in the distant future.

This is to the delight of the industry: the lower the entry threshold, the more people are necessarily insured under the BIA, and the more expensive it is for the employer. With a minimum annual salary, 12,863,340,000 people would have additional compulsory insurance. It was said that additional administrative efforts would be enormous. Now there will be only an additional 70,000 people who will be mandatory insured under BVG. Not only do you receive a higher old-age pension and employer contributions, but you are also insured against disability.

In particular, this point is often forgotten and almost never discussed in discussions: the 2nd stage is not only insurance for tomorrow, i.e. for old age. This is also insurance today. In the case of disability, there is not only a IV pension from the 1st pillar, but also a pension from the 2nd pillar.

One can regret the persistently high entry threshold. On the positive side, this reduces the risk of falling. The lower the minimum annual wage, the greater the risk that the left and the trade will reject the BVG revision.

Source: Blick