公務員退職給付 官民格差の解消を前提とせよ

The Yomiuri Shimbun (Jul. 7, 2012)
Eliminate disparity between public, private retirement packages
公務員退職給付　官民格差の解消を前提とせよ（7月6日付・読売社説）

How should the government eliminate the disparity in retirement packages between the public and private sectors?
　官民の格差をいかに解消するか――。

A government expert panel has compiled a draft plan for reforms of the retirement and pension system for civil servants.
政府の有識者会議が公務員の退職金や年金のあり方について改革案をまとめた。

A bill that would unify the pension system for corporate employees and the mutual pension plan for civil servants in October 2015 is expected to be passed by the Diet during the current session as part of the integrated reform of the social welfare and tax systems.
　社会保障と税の一体改革の一環として、会社員の厚生年金と公務員の共済年金を２０１５年１０月に統合する被用者年金一元化法案が衆院を通過し、今国会で成立する見通しだ。

Assuming the two pension schemes are unified, the government panel stated that retirement payments and pension benefits should be regarded as a comprehensive retirement package, and demanded that such packages be more closely aligned with retirement programs offered by the private sector.
　有識者会議は、この年金統合を前提に、公務員の退職金と年金を合わせて「退職給付」ととらえ、これを総合的に民間に合わせる方針を示した。

We see this proposal as reasonable.
妥当と言えよう。

According to a survey by the National Personnel Authority last year, the average retirement pay package for national civil servants--retirement pay and an additional benefit paid under the mutual pension program--was 29.5 million yen, exceeding by 4.03 million yen the average retirement pay and corporate pension benefits of workers at companies with more than 50 employees.
　人事院の昨年の調査によると、国家公務員の退職金と「職域加算」と呼ばれる共済年金の上乗せ支給の合計は２９５０万円で、従業員５０人以上の民間企業の平均的退職給付（退職金と企業年金の合計）を４０３万円上回っている。

The panel's first proposal was to remove this gap. Retirement benefits for corporate employees have shrunk since the so-called Lehman shock in 2008. In light of this, a significant reduction in retirement packages for public servants is inevitable. We believe the government should make bold cuts instead of acting piecemeal.
　提言はまず、この分を引き下げるよう求めた。リーマン・ショック以降、民間の退職給付は落ち込んでいる。公務員の退職給付もこれに合わせて、大幅にカットすることはやむを得まい。あまり段階を踏まずに実施すべきだろう。

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End preferential treatment

In integrating the private and public pension systems, the bill calls for abolishing the additional pension payment of about 20,000 yen a month for civil servants, which is seen as a symbol of preferential treatment for public workers. The panel has also focused on discussing how public servants should receive retirement benefits.
　厚生・共済年金の統合で、公務員優遇の象徴とされた月額約２万円の職域加算は廃止される。公務員の老後資金をどう形成するかが議論の焦点となった。

The panel has proposed a two-tier scheme in which retirement packages would be provided in a lump sum as well as pension payments, where the total amount is to be on par with private-sector levels.
　有識者会議は、公務員の退職給付を「一時払い」と「年金払い」の２本立てとし、その合計を民間水準に合わせるよう提言した。

In the private sector, a combined provision of lump-sum retirement pay and corporate pension benefits is common.
　民間では一時金と企業年金を組み合わせた退職給付が主流だ。

The introduction of a payment scheme similar to that used by the private sector would make it easier for the government to adjust the public-private disparity.
形態も民間に合わせた方が、今後、官民格差を調整しやすい。

In other words, the panel has proposed the creation of something similar to a corporate pension system for civil servants.
このため、「年金払い」部分を元に“公務員版企業年金”を新設する。

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New pension scheme sought

Providing retirement packages to civil servants in two stages would not require any extra public funds compared with paying benefits in a lump sum.
No extra taxpayer money would need to be injected into a corporate-style pension system for public employees.
　退職給付をすべて一時金で支給する場合と公費負担は変わらず、公務員版企業年金に特別の税金が投入されるわけではない。

However, we urge the government to carefully formulate the new pension system and be fully accountable for it to prevent people from viewing it as a different form of preferential treatment for public employees.
　ただし、国民から、「形を変えた公務員優遇」といった見方をされないよう、政府には、新年金についての十分な説明と設計上の配慮が求められる。

Making the pension benefits smaller than the current additional payment of about 20,000 yen is one way this could be accomplished.
現行の職域加算よりも受取額を小さく設計することは、一策であろう。

If the Diet passes legislation to integrate the two pension schemes, the amount of taxpayer money injected into the mutual pension plan under "additional expenses" would also be cut.
The mutual pension program replaced the "onkyu" allowance system that was financed by tax revenue instead of premium payments.
Even under the current pension system, however, injections of taxpayer money have been necessary to cover pension payments for retired civil servants who worked when the onkyu system was in place.
　被用者年金一元化法案が成立すれば、共済年金ができる前の恩給制度との関係で続いてきた「追加費用」という税金投入も削減される。

If the additional payments are cut, about 860,000 retired public employees will have their pension benefits reduced by up to 10 percent.
この結果、退職した元公務員のうち約８６万人の受給者は、年金額が最大で１０％減る。

Measures to remove the public-private retirement benefit gap will be difficult to bear for public servants, but they are inevitable in light of the nation's serious financial difficulties and the tough situation faced by private companies. Swiftly eliminating the private-public disparity is essential.
　一連の措置は公務員には厳しい内容だが、深刻な財政や民間の苦しい状況を考えれば、やむを得ないだろう。官民格差は、迅速に解消することが重要である。

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, July 6, 2012)
（2012年7月6日01時19分 読売新聞）