Le financement des systèmes de retraite dans les entreprises publiques : une comparaison européenne

Abstract

Financing state-owned corporations pension schemes : a european comparison The financial equilibrium of the wage-earners pension schemes is, and it is well- known, seriously in danger on the medium-long run. This remark is true for wage-earners of the private sector, but particularly for the employees of the public sector or members of schemes so called « special » which are based on the population of a single firm, basis much narrower and therefore much more fragile than the basis of the firms of the private sector, which transfers concerning retirement are managed collectively. The opening of the markets and the emergence of a strong competition in sectors which were untill now almost monopolistic, sets in worrying terms the problem of the handicap constituted by the retirement costs for companies endowed with special schemes. The purpose of this article is, on one hand to analyse the different solutions, envisaged or already adopted in some foreign countries (United Kingdom, Sweden, Spain, Germany) by firms operating in sectors traditionally allotted to public companies which are opening up to the competition (Post, Telecom, Rail, Electricity) and, on the other hand, to sum up the situation about the French special schemes.