I Want to be a French Bureaucrat

A French friend of ours retired recently and started drawing his pension.  Like all employees here, he paid into the French pension system when he worked and now he is starting to collect.  It’s much like Social Security in the US.

Our friend started working full-time at the age of 15 so he’s definitely earned his pension.  But apparently he hasn’t earned a good one. 

We saw him recently and he explained that it’s because he worked in the private sector.  This means that his retirement pay is based on his highest 25 years of earnings.  25!  By contrast, if he had worked for the government it would have been based on just his last two years of earnings, and therefore been much higher.

We talked about this at our grand aïoli lunch the other day.  Christian explained that it’s even worse than we had heard, that retirement benefits for fonctionnaires are actually based on just the last year or even the last six months of earnings.  And that this creates many opportunities for abuse.

Stories abound of fonctionnaires who conveniently receive promotions in the last year of their careers, moving them into a higher salary bracket.  And of others who get special bonuses, or work lots of overtime, or cash in their unused vacation time.  

All of this can dramatically boost their income at the very end of their careers, and thus their retirement benefits.  Which is why our friend told us that his brother, who had a similar job but in the government, now gets a monthly retirement check nearly twice the size of his own.

I’ve heard about this happening in the US, particular with police officers and fire fighters, but never on such a scale.

It helps explain why, in a recent survey, nearly three quarters of French college students revealed that their “dream job” is to work for the government!  

Think about it – steady employment, great retirement benefits and, let’s be honest, fonctionnaires are not famous for burning the midnight oil.

Which is why I hear this joke a lot:

Three kids – German, American, and French - are talking about their fathers.

The first one says, “My dad works for the German government.  His work ends at 5:00, and he takes the train, so he gets home at 6:00.”

The second one says, “My dad works for the American government.  His work ends at 5:00, and he has a car, so he gets home at 5:30.”

The third one says, “My dad works for the French government.  His work ends at 5:00, so he gets home at 4:30.”

KVS