Social security throughout these fifteen years has made various pension reforms with the aim of lengthening retirement age, that is, retiring later and guaranteeing that all pensioners do not lose purchasing power through revaluation according to IPC and minimum pensions. Among these reforms was Law 27/2011 or Royal Decree-Law 2/2023. But even so, although Social Security publishes that the average pension reaches 1,506 euros, the reality is that, according to statistics, four out of five autonomous retired pensioners charge an average pension below the minimum interprofessional salary (SMI).
According to the latest data from the Ministry of Social Security, the average retirement pension for an autonomous worker is at 1,009.61 euros, while that of the workers on behalf of others under the general regime stood at 1,665.72 euros. That is, there is a difference of 656.11 euros per month or 9185.54 euros per year (in 14 payments). But why does this difference exist?
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The main cause of the difference between the pension of an autonomous and that of an wage earner lies in social security contributions. The minimum contribution base of the self -employed is lower than that of employees and, in addition, 86.6% of the self -employed opt to quote the minimum base or even for an additional 1.5% of this base, according to the annual report of the Ministry of Labor and Social Economy (It can be accessed through this link).
The problem is aggravated because the solution that many try is ineffective, since although 97.1% of the self -employed decides to increase their contribution base from 55 years, this practice is insufficient, since, according to the current calculation method, the contribution bases of the last 25 years take as a reference, so an improvement in the final years does not compensate for decades of lower contributions.
78.07% of autonomous retirees take less than the minimum interprofessional salary
According to the latest data published by Social Security, of the 1,348,385 autonomous retirees in Spain, 1,028,040 charge a pension below the current interprofessional minimum salary (set for 2025 in 1,184 euros), which represents 78.07%.
This fact contrasts remarkably if we compare it with the general regime, where of the 4.9 million retirees, 40.45% (just over 1.9 million) perceives a benefit below the SMI. In addition, only 2,670 autonomous charge the maximum pension, while in the general regime this figure amounts to 121,171 pensioners.
The difference in retirement pensions is also notable between genres and regimes. The autonomous retirees that withdraw at their ordinary age receive a pension of 958.99 euros, while men in the same regime reach 1,088.10 euros.
In the general regime, the gap is even greater: pensioners charge 1,470.69 euros, compared to 1,917.50 euros that men receive. That is, when comparing both regimes, there is a difference of 511.70 euros between women and 829.40 euros among men, always to the detriment of self -employed.
They retire later than the rest
If we attend to the retirement age, we see that the self -employed retire considerably later than the rest. The average retirement age for a self -employed worker is 66.5 years, while for a general regime worker this figure is 65.06 years, almost a year and a half of difference.
The gap is maintained when analyzing the data by gender. In the case of women, the autonomous retire at 67 years, an age much greater than 65.51 years of the general regime workers. For men, the difference is similar: the self -employed retire at 66.2 years, compared to the 64.5 years of employees.
For modalities, the voluntary anticipation of the freelancers is 64.1 years, slightly above 63.98 years of the general regime. In the case of delayed retirement, who decide to lengthen their working life until 68.4 years in the case of self -employed, an age also exceeding 68.17 years recorded in the general regime.