Several experts from the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security have responded to concerns about postponing the statutory retirement age after the ministry held a press conference on the issue last week.
Postponing the retirement age will not cause difficulties for young people's employment, according to Zheng Dongliang, director of the Labor Sciences Institute under the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security. His opinion echoed that of Li Zhong, a spokesperson from the ministry, who said at the July 22 press conference that postponing the retirement age will have a limited impact on the country’s job market and will not reduce the amount of pension contribution.
Currently, people in China retire relatively young, with the average retirement age around 54, said Jin Weigang, director of the ministry's Research Institute for Social Security. According to Mo Rong, director of the ministry's Institute of International Labor and Social Security, most developed countries have a retirement age of over 65, while in most developing countries it is between 60 and 65.
In recent years, a number of countries have raised their retirement age. China already has an aging society, with the nation’s working population declining to 911 million in 2015. According to statistics released by the ministry, China's working population will plunge after 2030, and will shrink to 700 million by 2050.
Zheng said that young people’s jobs mainly depend on economic growth and industrial upgrades. The decrease of the working population also offsets whatever effect postponing retirement age would have on employment.
Li noted that young people will not necessarily step into the positions of retired people; instead, they may work in emerging industries or in the modern service industry. In this way, too, the employment of young people will not be directly affected by the postponed retirement age.
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