Pensions without contributions are ending: The pension moratorium is coming to an end

Next Sunday, March 23 marks the end of the pension moratorium, a measure that for years allowed millions of people to access a pension without having met the required 30 years of contributions.

With this decision, the Government of Javier Milei puts an end to a Kirchnerist scheme that rewarded informality and harmed those who did meet their pension obligations.

For decades, the pension system was unbalanced due to the massive inclusion of beneficiaries without sufficient contributions. This situation caused an enormous fiscal cost, financed with the resources of those who did regularly contribute to the system.

Now, with the end of the moratorium, a more just and equitable criterion is established: those who did not contribute will not be able to retire, but will receive a differentiated subsidy.

The privilege of retiring without contributions ends

As of March 24, those who have not met the 30 years of contributions will only be able to access the Universal Pension for the Elderly (PUAM), which is equivalent to 80% of the minimum pension.

It is important to note that this benefit is not a pension, but a subsidy for those who did not meet the pension requirements. Additionally, the PUAM has significant differences from the ordinary pension:

• Does not allow continued work: Unlike the pension, those who access this subsidy will not be able to have formal labor income.
• Women will have to wait until age 65: Previously, they could retire at age 60 with a moratorium, but now the minimum age is equal to that of men.
• There will be no widow's pension: People receiving the PUAM will not be able to inherit the pension of their deceased spouse or partner, unlike retirees.

With these measures, Milei's Government seeks to strengthen a pension system broken by populism and ensure that the pension is a right for those who met their contributions.

Data from the Undersecretariat of Social Security reflects that the majority of those who accessed the moratorium had few years of contributions:

• 52% of applicants had less than 10 years of contributions.
• 30% had between 10 and 25 years of contributions.
• Only 18% had between 25 and 30 years of contributions.

This scheme allowed more than half of the new retirees not to have contributed to the system, generating a strong impact on public accounts, harming those who did contribute all the years.

With the end of the moratorium, a stage of unjust privileges closes and progress is made toward a more solid pension system, where the pension is the result of effort and not a guaranteed benefit without contributions.

A populist measure

According to recent data from ANSES, 60% of the current 7.5 million retirees accessed their benefit through these moratoriums, a mechanism that allowed retirement without the 30 years of contributions required by law.

This, far from being progress in "social justice," represented a serious problem that rewarded the lack of contribution and punished formal workers.

Incorporating more than 3.5 million people between 2005 and 2015, without addressing labor informality, triggered public spending and aggravated the pension deficit. The result of this can be seen today: minimum pensions that barely suffice to survive.

Additionally, Kirchnerism used the moratoriums as a clientelist tool to secure votes, giving benefits to millions of people for political purposes.