This is conceptually neat, but operationalising it poses many challenges, as indeed evidenced by Spain’s recent experience. The foremost challenge is identifying the inflexion point in an economic cycle which would trigger the release of the buffer. This needs to be based on objective and observable criteria. It also needs long series data on economic cycles.
3  In education, the percentage of employees aged 55-64 is 19.2%, whereas the average rate is 11.8%. In addition, in its report Vergrijzing en vervanging (Ageing and Replacement), the Council for Work and Income expects bottlenecks in education in the short term.