Les évolutions de niveaux de pension de retraite par génération

After having steadily increased over successive generations, the average retirement pension has begun to level off and then decline starting with the first baby boom cohorts. This decrease mainly affects men (with an average gap of -1.5% compared to the previous cohort among those born between 1946 and 1950, versus -0.8% overall), while the average pension for women continues to rise, albeit at a slower pace than in earlier generations, and remains lower than that of men. An accounting decomposition method makes it possible to quantify the contribution of the various determinants of this decline, distinguishing between changes related to the structure of employment, career lengths, and pensions "in full-career equivalent" (EQCC) within each scheme. The recent decrease in the average pension is primarily explained by the decline in benefits paid by supplementary pension schemes for private-sector employees and public-sector contract workers—accounting for 40% of the total effect—as well as, to a lesser extent, by a decrease in pensions paid under civil service schemes. The drop in the average pension is also attributable, for about one-third of the overall effect, to a gradual shortening of men's careers, reflected both in a lower incidence of long careers and in a reduced share of complete careers among men.