The gradual delay in determining the implementation of the statutory retirement age; the delay in retirement will adhere to the combination of
uniform regulations and voluntary choices.
The "Proposals of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Formulating the Fourteenth Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development and Long-Term Goals for 2035" put forward the implementation of a gradual delay in the legal retirement age.
This policy change concerns the lives, work, and retirement of hundreds of millions of workers. The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security is publicly soliciting opinions and suggestions on the 14th Five-Year Plan. As of the 30th of this month, the public can send an email to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (guihua @mohrss.gov.cn).
Policy considerations
The proportion of the elderly population continues to increase and the average age of the working population gradually rises
Delayed retirement first appeared in the "13th Five-Year Plan" outline issued by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security in July 2016.
According to the timetable at the time, the specific plan for the gradual delay of the retirement age policy will be officially announced to the public in 2017 and is expected to be officially implemented in 2021.
Jin Weigang, then director of the Institute of Social Security of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, and others have explained the policy of delaying retirement.
Jin Weigang believes that from an international perspective, with the increase in life expectancy of the population, the increase in the degree of population aging, the shortage of the labor market, the increase in the dependency ratio of the elderly, and the increase in pressure on social pension funds, many countries have changed. All are gradually increasing the legal retirement age.
According to reports, since the 1970s, more than 60 countries and regions have raised the statutory retirement age to varying degrees. Timely, moderately and gradual increases in the statutory retirement age have become countries’ adjustments in response to changes in the aforementioned factors. Policy development trends.
The aging trend in China is also accelerating.
In 2019, my country's population of 65 years and older has reached 176 million, accounting for 23.0% of the world's population of the same age group. This proportion is already higher than the world's proportion of my country's total population (18.2%).
Zheng Dongliang, then director of the Labor Science Research Institute of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, made a prediction that after 2020, the average annual decrease in the working-age population will increase, and the working-age population will decrease from the peak of more than 900 million in 2011 to 2050. Around 700 million.
The average age of the working population is also rising year by year.
In 2016, the "China Human Capital Report 2016" released by the China Human Capital and Labor Economic Research Center of the Central University of Finance and Economics showed that the average age of the national labor force has risen to 36 years.
The average age of the national labor force in 2019 has reached 37.8 years, and this number was 32.2 years in 1985.
"Although labor productivity has gradually increased, the length of education has been extended, the number of years of work of workers has decreased, and the overall labor resources in society have been reduced. Therefore, labor resources must be fully developed and utilized, and gradual delay in retirement is a way," Zheng Dongliang said.
Policy expectations
In some countries, the retirement age reaches 70 to 65, which may become my country’s target retirement age
The implementation of delayed retirement will adjust the current retirement age.
The current retirement age in my country is 50 for female employees, 55 for female cadres, and 60 for males.
This policy has been implemented for a long time in my country's labor retirement system.
Mo Rong, vice president of the Chinese Academy of Labor and Social Security Sciences, introduced that in some countries, in order to avoid "age discrimination", there is no statutory retirement age, and it is illegal for employers to force employees to retire, such as the United States, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and Australia. .
In some countries, mandatory retirement is legal, but there is a minimum retirement age.
"We have sorted out the retirement age situation in 170 countries and regions around the world. Developed countries generally implement retirement ages over 65 years old, and some even reach 70 years old, such as Israel. A small number of economically backward countries have implemented retirement ages below 60 years old. At the retirement age of two years, they may have an imperfect pension system, limited coverage, or a low average life expectancy.” Mo Rong said.
Although the final plan for the gradual delay of the retirement policy was not officially announced during the "13th Five-Year Plan" period, some suggestions from relevant department heads and authoritative experts have already appeared in the newspapers.
Regarding the target retirement age, Zheng Gongcheng, a professor at Renmin University of China and president of the Chinese Society of Social Security, recently stated that it is feasible to increase the benchmark retirement age to 65 by 2050, starting from a comprehensive consideration and rational postponement.
When explaining the policy to the public, Yin Weimin, the former minister of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, also stated clearly, “The average retirement age of retirees participating in enterprise employee pension insurance is less than 55. Obviously it is unreasonable. Around 65 years old."
Zheng Gongcheng also put forward his idea-to set a period from 2020 to 2035 and a period from 2036 to 2050.
In the first stage, the goal was to narrow the retirement age gap between men and women. The statutory retirement age for female employees was gradually increased from 50 to 55, while female cadres were allowed to voluntarily choose to retire between 55 and 60; Retirement age is the goal, that is, men will be raised from 60 to 65 years old, and female employees will be raised from 55 to 60 years old, while women are allowed to voluntarily choose to retire until 65 years old.
Policy design
Uniform regulations combined with voluntary choice of "female cadres" retirement age or adjustment first
"Slow steps, flexible implementation, and enhanced incentives" are the latest policy explanations for postponing retirement reform.
After the Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the People’s Publishing House of the “Fifth Plenary Session of the Nineteenth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China <Recommendations> Hundred Questions on Learning and Guidance” mentioned that delaying retirement will adhere to the combination of unified regulations and voluntary choices, and make minor adjustments , In order to reduce social shock and win more support.
In fact, "reducing social shocks and gaining more support" has been doing this since the topic of delayed retirement entered the public eye.
In 2016, when Li Zhong, then the spokesperson of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, and now the deputy minister of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, explained to the public about the delay in retirement, he made it clear that the delay in retirement will take "many years" before it starts, and the pace will be relatively different. Slow, "there will be a fairly long process."
How to implement the "small steps" policy?
According to Mo Rong, there is a certain transition period for extending the retirement age from the legislative to the beginning of implementation. After the implementation, the strategy of small steps and slow walking is not a one-step delay.
Like Japan and South Korea, there is an interval of 13 years from legislation to actual implementation, and even longer in the United States.
At the beginning of the policy design, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security expressed its stance on this policy, saying that it would proceed from reality, distinguish the situation of different groups, and implement it step by step.
According to the current relevant policies, the retirement age for male government officials and male workers in Beijing is 60, and the retirement age for female government officials is 55.
According to Su Hainan, a special researcher of the Chinese Labor Association, due to the different retirement ages of different groups, female cadres may take the lead in implementing delayed retirement.
In fact, the postponement of retirement policy is part of the policy of China’s social security system. The "Proposals of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Formulating the Fourteenth Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development and the Long-term Goals for 2035" are relevant to "a sound multi-level social security system." The expression of the system is: "Improve a multi-level social security system that covers the whole people, coordinates urban and rural areas, is fair, unified, and sustainable. Promote the transfer of social security, improve the basic pension, basic medical insurance financing and benefit adjustment mechanism. Realize basic pension insurance nationwide Make overall plans and implement a gradual delay in the legal retirement age."
The adjustment of the retirement age involves the transformation of the entire social security system, especially the old-age insurance system. This reform will inevitably be implemented in a comprehensive and comprehensive social security policy.
The relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security also clearly mentioned that China will adopt four measures to reform and improve the pension insurance system. The first is to increase the level of overall planning, from provincial overall to national overall, and to achieve mutual assistance on a larger scale.
Second, the pension insurance fund must be invested and operated to maintain and increase its value.
The third is to introduce a gradual delaying retirement age policy in due course.
The fourth is to improve the personal account system and encourage more payments and more benefits for long-term payments.
Beijing News reporter Wu Wei