스웨덴 연금제도와 그 문제성에 관한 연구 = A Study of Swedish Pension Schemes and Their Problems

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Nowadays. Sweden has well-developed pension schemes which can be categorized as follow: (1)the national peoples pension (Folkpension, FP), (2)the national supplementary pension (Allman tillaggspension, ATP), and (3)the contractually determined pensions(ITP, STP, KPA, & SPV).
The national people's pension is called the basic pension, which provides a flat-rate benefit for all the pensioners regardless of their past income level. To qualify for the people's pension, a person must hold Swedish citizenship. Swedish citizens not domiciled in Sweden are also entitled to the basic pension, the size depending on the number of years they were gainfully employed in Sweden.
The national supplementary pension scheme is an earnings-related program for the old people. A person who has earned income from employment in excess of the base amount for at least 3 years, and who has accordingly been credited with pensionable income, receives graduated(earnings-related) benefits on top of the people's pension. Pensionable income is calculated for insured persons between the ages of 16 and 64. Income in excess of 7.5 times the base amount is not pensionable.
The contractually determined pension schemes are the occupational pension programs which give a complementary benefit to the pensioners in addition to the people's and supplementary pension schemes. These schemes cover both the public and private sectors.
Since the inception of the pension schemes, Swedish society has been rapidly changed structurally as well as functionally. Such societal changes have affected, among other things, the pension schemes. As consequences, there occurred some problems in the national supplementary pension scheme and contractually determined pension scheme.
In the case of the national supplementary pension scheme, two facts cause problems: one is the ceiling of pensionable income: the other is the 15 best-paid years. Since the base amount is indexed to consummer prices, it has not kept pace with the development of real wages. This became more widely recognized during the second half of the 1980's. More and more Swedes are reaching above the celing of pensionable income which is 7.5 times the base amount. Nevertheless, the income in excess of the ceiling is not pensionable. This implies that the statutory program will leave more and more people without adequate compensation for loss of income at retirement. This will be to the disadvantage especially of blue-collar workers in the private sector, who, unlike other employees, do not have occupational pensions that compensate for loss of income above the income-ceiling in the supplementary pension scheme. As mentioned before, the size of the benefit in the supplementary pension scheme is determined by the 15 best income years. Since a 30-year working period is enough to qualify for a full pension, work beyond 30 years does not add to the size of the pension. These rules have had a serious negative effect on labour supply. Moreover, a weak contribution-benefit linkage carries a potential for inter-generational conflict since the pension contribution might be perceived as a $quot;pure burden$quot; as long as it does not improve the future pension of the individual contributor.
The problem related to the contractually determined pension scheme is the imbalance of compensation for loss of Income between blue-collar workers in the private sector and other employees, such as the white-collar employees in the private sector and employees in both local and central government. The occupational pension for blue-collar workers in the private sector does not compensate for loss of income above 7.5 times the base amount. However, the occupational pension programs for white-collar workers in the private sector and for civil servants in the public sector provide the compensation for loss of income above 30 times the base amount. Thus, the contractually determined pension schemes as the occupational pension are very disadvantageous of the blue-collar workers in the private sector as against the other employees mentioned above.
Most women receive a lower pension amount than that of men. It is due not to sex discrimination, but rather, to the institutional contradiction. The pensionable income is delimited to the gainfully employed earning outside the home. Home-making is not accounted for in any of the pension schemes. In most cases, the mother rears child(ren) at home and it is a general trend that the increase of wage rate is faster for men than for women. These complex factors cause problems which give a serious disadvantage to women.