El País: Spain urged to be tougher with pension reform
20 December 2010
Spain should make tougher pension and labour reforms to revive economic growth and ease the debt load that is putting it at the heart of Europe's debt crisis, the OECD said in a report.
The government says that next month it will approve a highly contested plan to raise the retirement age gradually from 65 to 67, part of a drive to shore up public finances.
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said in a report that Spain should consider raising the retirement age even further by indexing the age to life expectancy increases.
The government is considering extending the period of a person's working life used to calculate retirement pensions - it is now the last 15 years. The OECD says people's entire working life should be used in the calculation, a move that would reduce the average monthly pension.
The OECD, which represents the world's developed countries, also urged further labor market reforms. It said Spain needs to encourage firms to hire and stimulate an economy struggling to recover from nearly two years of recession triggered by a 2008 property bubble burst.
© El País
