Public to have a say on retirement age
Source: Xinhua |
July 12, 2012, Thursday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
A SENIOR Chinese official on aging affairs has said a proposal on adjusting the retirement and pension system will take public opinion into "full consideration."
Wu Yushao, deputy director of the China National Committee on Aging, was cited by The Beijing News yesterday as saying that increasing the retirement age was an inevitable trend in an aging society, though more than 90 percent of respondents in a recent online survey were opposed to the idea.
"However, when and how to introduce such a plan remains undecided, which would rely on research in many areas, including the assessment on the degree of public acceptance," said Wu.
On July 1, He Ping, a research fellow with a government-backed research institute, told a seminar that China should begin lifting the retirement age from 2016 to gradually reach 65 in 2045.
There were many objections to his remarks and central authorities dismissed his ideas as not the official position.
China's current retirement system was introduced more than six decades ago, when average life expectancy was around 50.
Today, the general retirement age is 60 for men, 55 for women, and 50 for female workers doing hazardous or other special jobs.
Public doubt also comes from the feeling of "injustice" between the preferential pension system for government employees and the universal social security system.
An official report released on Tuesday noted that the average monthly pension was 1,527 yuan (US$240) for urban residents and 74 yuan for rural residents in 2010. However, the average pension for government employees was about twice as high as the average urban worker, according to Liu Guanjun, an expert in social security research at Tsinghua University.
The Chinese population aged 65 and above reached 123 million in 2011, and the figure is expected to rise to 323 million, or more than 23 percent of the total, by 2050.
According to a study by the Bank of China and Deutsche Bank, an aging population would leave China with a shortfall of 18.3 trillion yuan in pension funds by 2013.
However, on Tuesday Wu said the pension fund was currently in surplus, though it could go into the red in future.
Wu Yushao, deputy director of the China National Committee on Aging, was cited by The Beijing News yesterday as saying that increasing the retirement age was an inevitable trend in an aging society, though more than 90 percent of respondents in a recent online survey were opposed to the idea.
"However, when and how to introduce such a plan remains undecided, which would rely on research in many areas, including the assessment on the degree of public acceptance," said Wu.
On July 1, He Ping, a research fellow with a government-backed research institute, told a seminar that China should begin lifting the retirement age from 2016 to gradually reach 65 in 2045.
There were many objections to his remarks and central authorities dismissed his ideas as not the official position.
China's current retirement system was introduced more than six decades ago, when average life expectancy was around 50.
Today, the general retirement age is 60 for men, 55 for women, and 50 for female workers doing hazardous or other special jobs.
Public doubt also comes from the feeling of "injustice" between the preferential pension system for government employees and the universal social security system.
An official report released on Tuesday noted that the average monthly pension was 1,527 yuan (US$240) for urban residents and 74 yuan for rural residents in 2010. However, the average pension for government employees was about twice as high as the average urban worker, according to Liu Guanjun, an expert in social security research at Tsinghua University.
The Chinese population aged 65 and above reached 123 million in 2011, and the figure is expected to rise to 323 million, or more than 23 percent of the total, by 2050.
According to a study by the Bank of China and Deutsche Bank, an aging population would leave China with a shortfall of 18.3 trillion yuan in pension funds by 2013.
However, on Tuesday Wu said the pension fund was currently in surplus, though it could go into the red in future.
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