Workers' Pensions.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIIC, Issue 13710, 26 September 1908, Page 2 (Supplement)

Workers' Pensions.

GERMANY'S ELABORATE SCHEME. FOR AND OLD , AGE. -,. Old Age Pensions are the leasts important part of our WorkmenVlnsurance! Legislation. There are three ''great- compulsory Insurance Acts : -The Sickness Insurance Act with 11,000.000 of insured persons, the Accidents Insurance Act with 20,000.000, and the Incapacities Insurance Act with 14..000.000. Under the Sickness Act the workman contributes two-thirds, tlie employer onethird. Under -the Accidents Act the workman -contributes, nothing, the employer the whole. Under the Incapacities Act the workman one-half,, 'the employer one-half. HOW IT OPERATES. The Incapacities Insurance Act .dates from June 22, 1889; it came into force on January 1, 1891. Its former name was : .the Incapacities and Old Age Insurance Act. " Old Age" has been dropped front the official title of the Act, but, of course, not from the scope of its working, since the Act was amended and extended in 1900. Tlus Acb is intended to meet the needs of the workers, both male and female, who do not come within the scope ,of the v^yo; other Acts. It insures' the worker against permanent incapacity from all constitutional diseases such as tuberculosis, lead poisoning, general and permanent decline of his powers, etc.

A pension under this title, is-.given, to every insured worker, irrespective of his age, after for 200 weeks, if he is no .longer : able to earn a third of that income which capable workers of his. own profession are generally and usually earning in tliat part of the country M-here he or she has been living and working: *h "

Besides this group of permanent pensions, incapacity pension is payable to those persons .insured under the Act who have been incapacitated -by sickness—not permanent—for a longer period than half a year (twehtf-six weeks).-: In this case the pension is given after the twenty-sixth week 'for such a period his the incapacity may last,■'■while-the first r t\verity-six weeks are covered by the Sickness- Insurance Act. Thirdly, under this Act) a pension is given to all persons insured after having attained the seventieth year of age, irrespective of their working"'capacity or their income from any other sources. So in the ca.se of did age there is no inquisition and no '"sbding scale" in the sense of the British Bill. If ho or she has bectune a septuagenarian he or she gets the Old'Age-Pension without uiiv further question. Tho worker has a right to get it on account of his contributions. The Act covers every working person from the sixtieth year of his ago jf his yearly earnings do not exceed 2.000 marks £100). It includes skilled and unskilled labour in eVery description, even casual labourers, servauts, ' messengers, uharwomen. If a man or woman is employed by several }iersons during ,-», day the hist employer is responsible for him or her with regard to contributions. The employer pays the whole of the contributions to tho authorities by stamps; half of it he deductN from the worker's weekly wages. In auy case ho is responsible for the contributions. VALUE OF TIMELY HELP.

Contributions and illusions ar« divided into tivt) wage*' da.m-s. h'nrployec and workman equally pay in Cla.-w 1. *7 pfennig. Class 11. 10 {.frump. Class 111. 12 pfennig, Clu.*s IV. IS pfennig. Class "V. 8 pfennig per we»:*k (8 pfennig - one penny). The pension* are as follow* per v*w: INCAPACITY PENSION'S. " Wages Class. Minimum. Maximum. 1 10* 186s. II 12&> »70s. HI 134s 350k. V 150s vjavt. OLD AGK PENSIONS. I 110s. ............ il 140*. 11l 170s. ............ IV. . . ..... 200*. ~ V 850s If a worker li.t« got on incapacity jwn*ion, which is higlwr than the old ago pension, hefoiv ho is 70. ho lvtaina thehigher pcuftiou. From thin reason the number of old ag<» pensions k declining from year to year. Take, for instam-*'-, tho Khenmli Provinces of Prussia, with a population of about six millions, i.e., tin' population of greater London. This ir> how the Act lias worked:

Pensions for incapacity ]Vrni;uk*tit Not * *n| t i Yo.ir. liK-upiititv. JVrnwmtit. ..-W. i«Ji __:. „.. 0605 1892 1360 ~- 2620 181)3 3127 - ... 1782 1894 3935 - - 2134 IH9o 4409 -.. ifffl 18U6 . , 523!) 1897 58*1 ..- 1453 1898 . . 6971 . - .... 1374 18-*} 87? : ) 1288 1900 10746 667 13-13 1901 12171 6% 879 1902 13503 697 814 H'OS 13713 R3B 7SO IWI 13603 074 /,qg I:'"'>i> 10608 R/2 '.16 I'KV, Ha',<) jgy.', .' 603 5'M) 2:>22! *Ksl<-ll.*i«>n of lln« .\.-'. iii lfXXj litr!it|<jiw<i 'Hi" <!'•<«.•;»• •* of >h" in!rii!-r of ««l*l »'„*n jw-ti-.v ii'. sfi «iiK- *'i (Up f:i<-t \x\?\ men*l'Jtn <\ ; 1 Ij«j «ir>-t« ;•> •<< if ilns tilimlwr of ilir.Ajwi-Jiy |»-ti«n>iu» -ili.o 190.S i* <!»- to tin' f.j<'. 'hi' St.4««« TllMU.'-il. «• Allth'"!!'. »■ > J1"-.V ?-»Lr» !•.■»! n of !hf m i.u!<! 1k« jxijhioiirr m Sms<e. ». nil hun to it n.st.Voriiuii !*-f»rr. hf ;,•• V> .in tnci!!\<f>!i\ i;ix.. lijin '}i« I •••<•', ii)«"!ji-jtl fi»4p. Hy fj> iii.r icmicr ;\ k'''-^ 1 Thf a i-hic\«:m. n;<t <H tb :! S;i»- »r«- r <uUy «".iwt.rfu! ,vlm>m , .'t.i!i"ii "f tii" •li'-.tjM'.'jJjr.R ijinur a»n-« fund* m tJ>" K«fo:sh JProrin''** b*«> ;n hand 6,::'<Vj cws of th:g <!♦•■

scription, and most of them were..treaicd in their own sanatoria at a cost of about. £76.000, £17,000 being paid to the family of the insured worker during his abesence from home. They make the invalid a healthy man if there is the slightest chance.

The total expenditure on incapacities and old age pentdons during the first twelve years of the working of the Act for the "whole of Germany was 720,000,000 marks--£36,000.000; the number of pensions during the same period was 900,044 incapacity and 402,856 old age cases. In every pension is included «, sum of 50 marks (£2 10s) per year with imperial funds, so that a considerable part of every pension is provided •by the general taxpayer. The contribution from this source during the first twelve years amounted to £126,000,000. The proportion of women pensioners to men pensioners is as two to five.

A NATIONAL ASSET

If a worker is -unemployed he does not lose his claim to Ids penoion unless behat, during 104 successive weeks paid less than twen'-y weekly contributions. Iso if he is unemployed continuously during a whole year he can s°ave his. claim by, paying for ten weeks out of fifty-two. It cannot precisely be proved that old age pensions alone have favourably x influenced the expenditure under the Poorkiw, and there is not the least doubt possible that an expenditure of £200,000,000 during thirteen years, or as at present of 1,250,000 marks per day under the three Acts together means a considerable lowering of the expenditure under the Poor-law. This cannot be shown in £ s. d., because we have no especial poor-rate in Germany, all the expenses for the poor l>eing paid from the general income of our municipalities. The j«ystem of working the Incapacity Insurance Act is not so very complicated, and it works out smoothly enough. The work of constituting cases is primarily part of the municipal administration. They do what investigation is necessary, which in cases of old ago pensions is naturally very limited. Tho only question is solve is whether lbs claimant is really 70 years of age. and what is the amount of his contributions. In cases of incapacity it is mainly a cn.«* for the doctor. Then there id the provincial insurance administration, with an executive committee of three officials, two employers, and <uo workmen. Against their decision there is the Court of Arbitration, consisting of employers and workmen in equal numbers', with an impartial chairman, generally a Government official, a nd no lawyers admitted. In the last instance there is the Imperial*lnsurance Board in Berlin, similarly constituted. Generally speaking, this, social insurance legislation has become a national assset, which no party and no class would really lose, but which many of us are striving to modify, to unify, - amend, and to extend. O. STOEFFERS.