'When can I get my pension?' Chinese process rise in retirement age
By Sam DAVIES
Beijing (AFP) Sept 13, 2024

Chinese employees on Friday began processing the news that they would have to work at least three extra years after officials announced they would raise the country's retirement age from 2025.

"My first reaction is: so when can I get my pension?" a 30-year-old marketing professional who gave her name as Xinzi, told AFP in Beijing.

"I'm worried that we modern people now are so competitive and distressed that our health may not see us through to that age," she said.

Officials announced the statutory retirement age for male workers would be raised from 60 to 63. For women workers, it would rise from 50 or 55 years to 55 and 58 years, depending on whether they were "blue-collar workers" or "cadres".

The retirement age will be gradually raised over 15 years from January 1, 2025, state media said.

Xinzi said she was also concerned about the current job market, where China's youth unemployment stood at 17.1 percent in July, and whether the extension would make people reconsider having children, exacerbating China's ageing population.

University student David told AFP he felt "a bit reluctant about working so long", but said he "can understand the decision".

"The country is probably thinking about its ageing population", the intern at a PR firm, who only wished to give his first name for privacy reasons, said.

- Ageing society -

China is facing a rapidly ageing society: its population fell in 2023 for the second year in a row, with policymakers warning of potentially severe impacts on the economy, healthcare and social welfare systems if action is not taken.

The country's retirement age had not been raised for decades and had been among the lowest in the world.

Online, a related hashtag quickly shot to the top of social media platform Weibo's "hot search" list, garnering 560 million views by Friday evening.

Some were supportive of the move. "It's more moderate than I expected, I can accept it," read one Weibo comment with over 3,000 likes.

"National policies are in line with the country's conditions," another user wrote.

Government censors appeared to scrub many posts from the site -- a common occurrence in a country where open discussions of national policy are often deemed sensitive.

However, some dismayed netizens were able to post.

"I don't know how they thought up this policy, young people are already so anxious, now the retirement age is being extended," one comment read.

"We're eating pre-made meals, living in shared apartments, working endless shifts. Don't feel too sad, everyone; in 15 years, the retirement age will probably be raised again," read another.

A 21-year-old entrepreneur in Beijing who gave his name as Ha Lide told AFP: "I'm not surprised, I think delaying retirement is an inevitable process.

"If the ageing population is severe... there won't be enough money to distribute for pensions", he said.

"I'll just have to bear the three extra years of work."

China to raise retirement age as demographic crisis looms
Beijing (AFP) Sept 13, 2024 - China said Friday it would gradually raise its statutory retirement age, as the country grapples with a looming demographic crisis and an ageing population.

Hundreds of millions of people in China are set to enter old age in the coming decades while the birth rate dwindles dramatically.

The national population fell in 2023 for the second year in a row, with policymakers and experts warning of severe impacts on the economy, healthcare and social welfare systems if action is not taken.

China's retirement age had not been raised for decades and had been among the lowest in the world.

State news agency Xinhua said top officials in Beijing had decided that "the statutory retirement age for male workers will be gradually extended from the original 60 years to 63 years".

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, Xinhua reported.

It said the retirement age would be gradually raised over 15 years from 2025, adding that from 2030, workers would need to make a minimum of 20 years of basic pension contributions instead of the current 15.

The new rules will allow Chinese people "to postpone retirement to an even later date if they reach an agreement with employers", Xinhua said.

They will take effect from January 1, 2025.

- 'Inevitable choice' -

State media said the move was based on a "comprehensive assessment of the average life expectancy, health conditions, the population structure, the level of education and workforce supply".

China's current retirement age was set at a time of widespread scarcity and impoverishment, well before market reforms brought comparative wealth and rapid improvements in nutrition, health and living conditions.

But in recent years the world's second-largest economy has had to contend with slowing growth, while a fast-greying population and a baby bust pile pressure onto its pension and public health systems.

An expert told AFP that "demographic change" was likely the key factor behind the decision.

"The central government first proposed changing the retirement age in 2013, and there has been a lot of social discussion in the decade since," said Li Changan, a labour economist at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing.

"I think many people are mentally prepared for the announcement."

Prior to Friday's news, state media had published articles touting the proposed retirement age.

One of them in the Communist Party-run People's Daily said this week that the hike would "adapt to the objective situation of our country's widespread increase in life expectancy and years of education".

It quoted Mo Rong, director of the Chinese Academy of Labour and Social Security, as saying the move was "an inevitable choice for our country to adapt to the new normal of population development".

But He Yafu, an independent population expert, told AFP the plan "cannot fundamentally deal with the negative impacts of population ageing and shrinkage on the economy, society, and technology".

"The fundamental measure to deal with the ageing problem is to increase the fertility rate," he said.

- Tired, disillusioned, censored -

Recent statistics make grim reading for policymakers hoping for a reversal in the country's demographic destiny.

People over 60 are expected to make up nearly a third of China's population by 2035, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit, a research group.

Meanwhile, the country's fertility rate has fallen far below the level required to keep the population stable, despite recent relaxations of the notorious "one-child" policy and official efforts to stimulate births.

Many young people already feel disillusioned by an economic system that they say fetes intense study and long working hours for increasingly scant reward.

"I'm worried that we modern people now are so competitive and distressed that our health may not see us through to that (new retirement) age," a marketing professional who gave her name as Xinzi told AFP on Friday.

"My first reaction is, so when can I get my pension?" the 30-year-old said.

Chinese internet users flocked to social media following the announcement, though there were signs government censors were scrubbing many posts from the platforms -- a common occurrence in a country where open discussion of national policies can be sensitive.

Most of the remaining comments merely acknowledged the change, though some hinted obliquely at dismay at the extension to working life.

"As long as we still get to choose whether or not we actually retire, I have no objections," one user wrote.

Related Links
China News from SinoDaily.com