China Raises Retirement Age for the First Time Since the 1950s. Photo: Getty Images
The Chinese authorities on Friday agreed on a plan to raise the country’s statutory retirement age, first time the world second largest economy will raise its retirement age since the 1950s.
China is presently among the lowest in the world for the Mandatory retirement age.
The development is a long-awaited but generally unpopular effort to address the challenge of its rapidly aging population.
According to the report, the plan will be implemented in gradually, starting on Jan. 1, 2025. The retirement age for men, previously 60, will increase in increments of several months before finally reaching 63 by 2040. The retirement age for women in white-collar jobs, previously 55, will rise to 58. Women in blue-collar jobs, who previously could retire at 50, will have to work until 55.
The decision would “maintain the momentum and vitality of economic and social development,” Wang Xiaoping, China’s Minister of Human Resources and Social Security, said at a news conference.
Policymakers and experts have for decades been calling for a change to the retirement age, noting that the previous rules dated from a time when life expectancy in China was much shorter, and fertility rates higher. They warned that maintaining the status quo would severely strain the country’s work force and pension funds, with large numbers of older Chinese retiring but fewer young people replacing them.
China’s working-age population has been falling since 2012, according to official statistics, with an average annual decrease of more than 3 million people. Last year, China had 297 million people over 60 years old, or about 21 percent of its population.
But the proposal faced broad opposition, from older workers as well as from younger ones, who worried that an expanded work force would mean even tougher competition for jobs. China also lacks a strong social safety net, and age discrimination by employers is common, leaving many blue-collar workers to worry that they would be left without work but unable to draw on pensions.
中國74年來首次提高退休年齡
中國當局週五同意提高國家法定退休年齡的計劃，這是自 1950 年代以來世界第二大經濟體首次提高退休年齡。
目前，中國是世界上強制退休年齡最低的國家之一。
這項開發案是一項期待已久但普遍不受歡迎的努力，旨在應對人口迅速老化的挑戰。
報告稱，該計畫將從2025年1月1日開始逐步實施。 。
中國人力資源和社會保障部長王小平在記者會上表示，這項決定將「保持經濟社會發展的動力和活力」。
幾十年來，政策制定者和專家一直呼籲改變退休年齡，他們指出，先前的規定是在中國預期壽命更短、生育率更高的時期制定的。 他們警告說，維持現狀將給中國的勞動力和退休基金帶來嚴重壓力，因為大量老年人退休，但接替他們的年輕人卻越來越少。
根據官方統計，自2012年以來，華人勞動年齡人口持續下降，年均減少超過300萬人。 去年，中國60歲以上人口達2.97億，約佔總人口的21%。
但該提議遭到了年長工人和年輕工人的廣泛反對，他們擔心勞動力的擴大意味著工作競爭更加激烈。 中國仍缺乏強大的社會安全網，雇主的年齡歧視也很常見，這讓許多藍領工人擔心自己會失業卻無法領取退休金.
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