Spc. Antonio Walton, 3rd Infantry Division, 2nd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, trys to console his 2-year-old son, Caleb Walton, as he tells him goodbye before he deploys to Iraq from Fort Stewart, Ga., on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2007. The 19,000-troop 3rd Infantry, which helped lead the 2003 charge to Baghdad, is the first Army division to be tapped for a third deployment to the war. (AP Photo/Atlanta Journal Constitution, Curtis Compton)



Burden of Premium Goes Up While Pension Goes Down

The Development Committee of the Officeholder Pension System (DCOPS) is preparing a reform bill for pensions of officeholders. It will announce a tentative plan of pension reform around January 11. The government plans to launch group bargaining for preparation of the final pension reform bill and 39 labor unions of officeholders based on the tentative plan made by the committee.

Minister of Government Affairs and Home Affairs Park Myeong-jae reported the general direction and policy of the pension reform at an operational report meeting on January 10, where the entire current state of the ministry is reported to President Roh Moo Hyun. Prior to the meeting, the DCOPS joining of nonofficial persons and government officials held a private meeting in the morning. They made a final confirmation on the contents of the tentative reform bill, which will be announced on January 11.

According to government officials, the bill prepared by the committee sets standard amounts for pensions. They are currently based on ‘three years of the average salary before retirement’ and now changing it to ‘the average salary during the whole period of employment.’ This means there will be a decrease substitution ratio for income in the pension system. As a result, basic amounts will go down. The alternative income ratio of thirty years of employment drops to 50 percent, which is 70 percent now.

The premium is now 8.5 percent out of monthly income for government and public officers, but the ratio of premium burden against national income will gradually increase every two to three years.

In particular, under the tentative reform bill, the ratio of national allotment for retirement allowance, which the government pays the total amount, is now 6 percent of monthly income. It will rise to 15 percent and the retirement allowance will get closer to 35 percent of unofficial retirement pay. However, retired public officers and the officeholder pension system will be maintained as it is, prior to confirmation of the reform bill.
/ 입력시간: 2007. 01.11. 08:52