Die Rolle der betrieblichen Altersvorsorge für die Einkünfte im Alter – aktuelle Evidenz und Datengrundlagen

Despite the socio-political importance of occupational pensions since the pension reforms of the 1990s and 2000s, the incomplete evidence base, lack of transparency and lack of data have been regularly criticized in recent years. In this paper, we summarize the existing data sources and the current state of knowledge on occupational pensions in Germany. Against the background of the increasingly important role of occupational pensions for retirement incomes, the evidence base should be improved, especially in order to assess possible needs for social policy action. For the assessment of current savings and the estimation of future retirement incomes, the starting point of the analyses should be individuals or households. However, since survey-based data tend to under-report occupational pension coverage, as individuals are often poorly informed about their occupational pension entitlements, survey- based data should be combined with administrative data. Existing data gaps should be urgently filled, e.g., by collecting additional variables in existing datasets. Furthermore, the access of researchers to data sources should be facilitated.

Bucher-Koenen, Tabea, Caroline Knebel-Seitz and Christina Meyer (2021), Die Rolle der betrieblichen Altersvorsorge für die Einkünfte im Alter – aktuelle Evidenz und Datengrundlagen, ZEW Discussion Paper No. 21-099, Mannheim, published in: DRV-Schriften.