“It is very difficult for a worker to reach 67 years of age in full capacity”

The vast majority of employees over 63 have something in common: they can’t wait to retire. However, with each passing year, retirement seems a little further away. In reality, it is not a perception, but it’s a reality which has been occurring since 2011, when the regulations were approved that delay the retirement age by a few months each year.

Alfonso Muñoz Cuenca, Social Security official specialized in pensions, counted from her YouTube channel the case of an acquaintance who was 65 years old and had 25 years of contributions who couldn’t wait to retire. For the expert, this feeling is the symptom of a problem that is repeated more and more as they harden retirement requirements: There are people who reach the final stretch of their working life without the real ability to sustain the pace required of them.

Age increases, but the body does not always accompany. As and as highlighted Trendsthe Social Security reform of 2011 established in the Law 27/2011 established the progressive delay of the retirement age, while the requirements to access it were also increased. In 2026, only those people who can prove a minimum of 38 years and 3 months of contributions will be able to retire at age 65. Whoever has not paid for that time will have to wait until the 66 years and 10 months to retire.

The current pension system was designed in a very different social and health context, in which workers lived an average of seven years after retiring. According to INE data Today life expectancy exceeds 20 years on average after retiring. However, the fact that life expectancy is longer does not mean that the most veterans reach the end of their working life in full physical condition to meet the demands of the position, which makes the latter especially hard for them.

Burnout does not always have a diagnosis. Muñoz Cuenca summarizes it in his video, stating that “there are workers who can barely reach the age of 67 standing on a scaffold, or doing endless shifts in a hospital without rest.” The problem is that this wear and tear rarely appears in a medical report. There is no declared disability, but rather accumulated fatigue, loss of rhythm and a body that no longer responds the same who did it when he was 40 or 50 years old.

The burnout data in Spain collected by Unobravo confirm that 55% have suffered total exhaustion at some point. The health sector and care professions are those most affected by this situationwith sectors with chronic staff shortages and high workloads. He UGT report of 2025 He adds that job insecurity increases the probability of developing depression by 61%. The exhaustion of employees in the last years of their working career that Muñoz Cuenca describes has, apparently, a lot of statistical support.

The problem of the years listed. In his video, the expert comments on the case of a 65 and a half year old worker who wants to retire, but only accumulates 25 years of contributions, which closes the doors to early retirement. Just to have the chance to access early retirement On a voluntary basis, you need to have contributed for at least 35 years. Whoever does not reach those figures has few options.

Muñoz Account says that, after a career marked by the precariousness of temporary contracts, the years dedicated to caring for her children, not adding these minimums is more common than it seems. He Labor Market Report for those over 45 in 2026 Prepared by the Occupations Observatory, there are more than eleven million people over 45 years of age employed or affiliated with Social Security, more than half of the total. Many arrived late to the labor market or have accumulated careers with many bumps, which makes them serious candidates for not meeting the minimum requirements to access retirement at age 65.

Partial retirement as an escape valve. Muñoz Cuenca proposes what he calls “work slowdown”: reducing the workload progressively as the end of active life approaches. Not as a new right, but as a change of mentality in companies to facilitate generational change. The legal tool already exists in the form of partial retirement with relief contract. From 2025, you can apply up to three years before the ordinary age, with a minimum of 33 years of contributions.

This mechanism allows the employee’s working hours to be reduced by between 25% and 75%, and collect part of the pension, while the company hires someone to cover the remaining hours and train them to take their place when retirement is final. However, far from being the norm, this type of progressive retirements They are the exception since not all companies are obliged to accept it, so the employee has no choice but to force the machine beyond its capabilities, resulting in an increase of 43% in the number of leave among employees between 55 and 65 years old.

Gina Aran, human resources consultant, confirmed in an interview for The Vanguard that “retirement should be one’s own choice, made judiciously, taking into account the state of health, and insists that it should not be something abrupt and obligatory.”

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Image | Unsplash (Sweet Life)