China To Raise Retirement Age For Workers

On Friday, China announced that it would gradually raise its statutory retirement age, state news agency Xinhua reported, as the country faces a looming demographic crisis and an aging population.

“The statutory retirement age for male workers will be gradually extended from the original 60 years to 63 years,” a decision by Beijing officials shared by Xinhua said.

For women workers, the retirement age will be extended “from the original 50 or 55 years to 55 and 58 years, respectively,”  depending on the type of job.

The retirement age will gradually begin to rise over 15 years from 2025, state media said.

“Starting 2030, the minimum year of basic pension contributions required to receive monthly benefits will be gradually raised from 15 years to 20 years at the pace of an increase of six months annually,” Xinhua said.

The new rules will also allow Chinese people “to postpone retirement to an even later date if they reach an agreement with employers”, it added.

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) report, released in June 2020, highlights a new law passed by the National Assembly in November 2019.

This legislation, the result of extensive consultations with experts, national and local stakeholders, and the general public, is scheduled to take effect in January 2021.

For male workers, the retirement age will gradually increase from 60 to 62 years and 3 months, with a 7-year transition period. Full implementation of this change is expected by 2028.

Similarly, for female workers, the retirement age will rise from 55 to 60 years and 4 months, with a longer transition period of 14 years. Full implementation is expected by 2035.