Higher retirement age for women moves closer
The Senate has voted to raise the retirement age for women by one year to 65, following a similar vote by the House of Representatives.
This content was published on June 3, 2009 - 15:31Supporters of Wednesday's move said it was needed to ensure that there is still enough money to finance pensions as the population gets older.
Raising the age at which women can draw their state pension is expected to save about SFr850 million ($795 million).
The vote passed by 29 to seven. It was opposed by the left, who argued that if the age was raised, pensions should be increased.
Leftwing senators were also defeated on their proposal that pensions should be indexed to movements of salaries and prices. The majority followed the government view that changes should only be made every two years.
The discussion was linked to proposed amendments to the pension law.
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