Cost of a pension - One fund for all workers

YESTERDAY’S figures from the Irish Association of Pension Funds will be a cause of concern for anyone who will have to depend on a private pension. They will be of no consequence to public sector employees.

The association says that a 25-year-old opening a defined contribution pension and paying 10% of salary a month would have to work for another half century — 50 years — for a pension of 50% of salary.

These are startling figures and show that private sector employees more and more resemble disposable labour units rather than people who are part of an economic process entitled to expect a degree of comfort in retirement — a principle enshrined in public sector pensions.