If Germany ends the 45-year pension, apprentices pay. Graduates lose nothing.

What the numbers show

• In 52 of 61 jobs, someone who starts at the usual age and is insured without gaps reaches 45 years before 67, in 29 of them early enough to retire two full years early without a deduction today. These are jobs you train for as an apprentice: trades, industry, nursing, offices and banks.
• Without the rule, the same retirement date costs up to 7.2% of the pension, for life: €83 net a month for a roofer, €98 for a nurse, €124 for a bank clerk. For those who lose the full two years, that is €16,756 to €29,764 over 20 years of pension.
• Graduates lose nothing: years at university don't count towards the 45 years. Even someone with a bachelor's degree at 23 who works without gaps only gets there at 68, after the regular retirement age. That holds for all 5 graduate jobs here.
• School-based training already gets almost nothing: physio and occupational therapists, pharmacy technicians, childcare workers and educators spend 2 to 4 years at school that don't count. The 45-year pension gives them 1 month at most today.
• The birth years at stake started even earlier: in 1993, 87% of new apprentices were 20 or younger; in 2019, 69%. Anyone who starts by 20 and is insured without gaps has the 45 years by 65.

Six jobs compared

Who retires early after 45 years today, and what the same date would cost without the rule. Pension after 45 years on the job's median pay, net a month, at today's prices.

All 61 jobs

Contributions from: average age of new apprentices in the training occupation (BIBB, 2024); school-based training and degrees below. "Earlier": how many months before 67 the 45-year pension can start without a deduction today. "Less net": a month, when the same pension takes 0.3% off per month without the rule.

The options without the rule

Take a roofer who starts training at 18.9 and has 45 insured years at 63.9:

• Retire at 65 anyway: a 7.2% deduction, €83 less net a month, for life. The commission also wants the deductions recalculated.
• Work until 67: no deduction, and the two years even add €76 of gross pension, but two years less of drawing it.
• Retire at 64, the earliest the commission would still allow: a 10.8% deduction. Today that is possible from 63.
• Too ill to keep working: the commission proposes a Schutzrente for long-time contributors. Its details are open.

If the regular retirement age also rises to 67.5, as in the commission's example, retiring at 65 would cost 9%. A later regular age would also hit everyone who never reaches 45 years.

Today's rules by birth year

Which birth years would lose the 45-year pension is not settled. An early working draft in the labour ministry kept it for people born 1964 to 1966, gave transitional protection to 1967 to 1971 and ended it from 1972. The ministry calls that draft outdated; the minister has promised about five years of transition. Under today's law:

"Earliest": the year in which the 45-year pension can start for that birth year. From 1964 it is 65, with a regular age of 67 (§ 236b, § 235 SGB VI).

Work out your own retirement age →

Where the reform stands

1. 23 June 2026The Alterssicherungskommission hands over its report with 33 recommendations: end the deduction-free pension after 45 years (with a Schutzrente for long-time contributors who can no longer work in their job for health reasons), raise the earliest early pension from 63 to 64, recalculate the deductions, and tie the Regelaltersgrenze to life expectancy after 2031 (in its example, 67 to 67.5 by 2041).
2. 2 July 2026The coalition committee says it will implement all recommendations fully and quickly.
3. 21 August 2026An early working draft in the labour ministry, reported by Die Zeit in September: the 45-year pension at 65 stays for people born 1964 to 1966, those born 1967 to 1971 get transitional protection, and it ends from 1972. The ministry calls the paper an outdated first draft by its specialist unit.
4. 11 September 2026In the Bundestag the labour minister promises transitional protection of about five years.
5. 27 October 2026No official draft bill yet. The government wants a cabinet decision in 2026 and the Bundestag to vote in the first quarter of 2027.

How we calculated

• Contributions start: the average age of apprentices with a new contract in the matching training occupation, 2024 (BIBB, DAZUBI). The BIBB counts by year of birth, so the true average is slightly higher. Nursing and paramedics (their own laws) and jobs without training: the average of all training occupations, 19.9. School-based training: that age plus the unpaid school years. Degree: a bachelor's at 23.
• 45 years: insured without gaps. What counts: contributions from work and apprenticeships, part-time in full, raising children up to age ten, caring for relatives and unemployment benefit I (not in the last two years before the pension). School, university and Bürgergeld don't (§ 51 (3a) SGB VI). Student jobs with pension contributions count too.
• Pension: as in pension by occupation, 45 years on the job's median pay (Entgeltatlas), pension value from July 2026, net of health and care insurance and income tax, single, no children. Deduction: 0.3% per month before 67 (§ 77 SGB VI). Over 20 years: at 65, men live another 18.0 years on average, women 21.1 (Destatis life table 2023/2025).
• Left out: gaps in a career, transitional protection, the Schutzrente, new deduction rates, the pension for severely disabled people and company pensions.

Use the data

The table is available as CSV, with the training occupation and every step. You are free to use it, including in articles, with the credit “Zenarios, pension reform by occupation; data: Entgeltatlas, Bundesagentur für Arbeit; BIBB” and a link to this page.

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How much pension each job pays →

Reform status checked 30 October 2026. Model calculations of proposals that are not law yet: not a pension statement or advice. How Zenarios calculates