Chinese Workers Could Retire at 50 for Years. China Cannot Afford It Right Now.
Beijing raises the retirement age for certain women to 55 from 50 and for men to 63 from 60.
Hong Kong — Chinese laborers have ended their careers at very young ages—50 for women and 60 for men—for many years.
However, that is all about to change as the Chinese government, according to state news agency Xinhua, passed new law on Friday outlining a proposal to defer the retirement age over a 15-year period, beginning on January 1.
According to the regulations in place, women might retire in urban areas at age 50 or 55, depending on their occupation, while men could retire at age 60 and receive their pensions. The age is progressively lowered under the new regulations to 63 for men and 55 and 58 for women.
The rules also include intentions to expand the minimum working duration for employees to get a monthly pension from 15 to 20 years, with modifications starting from 2030. The country’s top legislative body adopted the measures in response to signals from a significant Communist Party body in July.
They also provide for considerable flexibility with regard to retirement age, particularly for individuals who have fulfilled the required amount of work experience.
The government has been debating the move for almost ten years, during which time Beijing has been dealing with the impending fallout from an aging population that is aging at an accelerated rate and a pension funding shortfall.
The news quickly generated a lot of debate—as well as criticism—on Chinese social media.
Some social media users seemed happy that the adjustments provided some flexibility and weren’t more significant. “As long as there are options to retire or not based on our will, I have no objections,” said one Weibo comment that received hundreds of likes.
Others expressed dissatisfaction at the possibility of years of additional work and delayed pension access, as well as concerns about whether the policy will worsen China’s already difficult labor market, where youth unemployment rates are stubbornly high.
“Being 63 years old does not guarantee that you will receive your pension; not everyone will be employed until that age.” One user wrote.
The expected revisions have been heralded by Chinese state media as an urgent and necessary reform for an antiquated system in recent days, emphasizing that the policy had been in place since the 1950s, a time of lower life expectancies and educational attainment.
“For seventy-three years, the framework for present retirement policies has not changed. The demographic, economic, and social landscape has changed significantly, particularly since the reform and opening up (which began about 1978), demographer Yuan Xin was cited earlier this week by state media.
Yuan, a demographer at Nankai University in Tianjin and the deputy director of the China Population Association, claimed that the current retirement age is gravely out of step with both the “national realities” of the present and the new standard of future economic and social development.
Retirement ages in China are currently lower than in several other large economies. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries’ average conventional retirement ages for 2022 were 63.6 years for women and 64.4 years for men.
The retirement age has also been a contentious issue in several other nations. A government attempt to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 in France in 2023 sparked massive protests. Along with steadily raising the retirement age and debating retirement reform, the US has also implemented Social Security incentives for retirees who postpone claiming benefits until age 70.