Finland Times

 

Relation of the income of pensioner households to the income of employee households*. Source: Income Distribution Statistics 2013, Statistics Finland.

The income of pensioner households is around 65 per cent of the income of employee households, Statistics Finland's income distribution data indicate.

 

Among pensioner households, households of former upper-level salaried employees have clearly the highest income and their income exceeds the income level of employee households.

 

Pensioner households where a pensioner living on national pension or a former farmer is responsible for the primary livelihood are in the weakest position.

 

In these groups the income of households is only around one-half of that of an average employee household, according to the statistics.

 

Relation of the income of pensioner households to the income In the 1990s and early 2000s, the income of retired upper-level salaried employee households was still clearly higher than that of employee households.

 

But the income level of employee households rose during the prolonged economic growth in the mid-2000s above the income level of retired upper-level salaried employee households for a few years.

 

The income level of other pensioner households remains clearly below the income of employee households.

 

Both during the recession in the 1990s and the economic downturn in the last few years, the relative income position of pensioner households improved compared with employee households.  

 

In 2013, there were nearly 870,000 pensioner households in Finland, which is around one-third of all households. Of pensioner households, most were households of former workers, being nearly 320,000. The number of lower-level salaried employees on pension was 260,000 and that of upper-level salaried employees 120,000.

 

Households of former farmers numbered 70,000 and of other former self-employed persons good 60,000. 

 

There were nearly 35,000 other pensioner households living primarily on national pension in 2013, the data show.