The retirement age will be raised for men to 63 years old from 60, while for women in white collar work it would be raised to 58 years from 55. For women in blue collar work it will be increased to 55 from 50.
The changes are set to come into force on Jan. 1, 2025 and be implemented over a 15 year period.
Having people work for longer would ease pressure on pension budgets with many Chinese provinces already reeling from large deficits. But delaying pension payouts and requiring older workers to stay at their jobs longer may not be welcomed by all of them.
TFW you combat liberalism and lose
Not cool. Incidentally those replaced retirement ages (60 for men 55 for women) are the same as they had in the USSR.
Here’s a translation of the actual statute, which I would rather sift through than read the Western coverage take on this:
Decision of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress on the Implementation of a Gradual Delay in the Statutory Retirement Age
(Adopted on September 13, 2024, at the 11th Meeting of the 14th Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress)
In order to thoroughly implement the Central Committee’s decision on the gradual delay of the statutory retirement age, adapt to the new demographic situation in China, and make full use of human resources, the 11th Meeting of the 14th Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress decides as follows:
Gradual Adjustment of Retirement Age:
Men and Women: The statutory retirement age for male employees will be gradually extended from the current 60 years to 63 years over a period of 15 years. For female employees, the retirement age will be extended from the current 50 and 55 years to 55 and 58 years, respectively, over the same period.
Principles for Implementation: The gradual delay in the statutory retirement age will adhere to principles of incremental adjustment, flexible implementation, differentiated progress, and overall coordination.
Government Responsibilities: Local governments at all levels should actively respond to aging demographics, encourage and support employment and entrepreneurship, safeguard workers’ rights, and coordinate efforts related to pension and childcare services.
Approval of Detailed Measures:
The “Measures for the Gradual Delay of the Statutory Retirement Age” issued by the State Council are hereby approved. The State Council may supplement and refine these measures as needed.
Effective Date and Previous Regulations:
This decision will come into effect on January 1, 2025. The provisions regarding retirement age in the “Interim Measures on the Placement of Elderly, Disabled, and Sick Cadres” and the “Interim Measures on the Retirement and Resignation of Workers” approved by the 5th National People’s Congress Standing Committee at its 2nd meeting will no longer apply.
Measures for the Gradual Delay of the Statutory Retirement Age
Guided by Xi Jinping’s Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and in deep implementation of the spirit of the 20th National Congress and the 2nd and 3rd Plenaries of the 20th Central Committee, and considering factors such as life expectancy, health levels, population structure, educational attainment, and labor supply, the following measures are enacted for the gradual delay of the statutory retirement age:
Article 1: Starting January 1, 2025:
For male employees and female employees whose statutory retirement age is 55 years, the retirement age will be gradually extended by one month every four months until it reaches 63 years and 58 years, respectively.
For female employees whose statutory retirement age is 50 years, the retirement age will be gradually extended by one month every two months until it reaches 55 years. National regulations will take precedence where applicable.
Article 2:
Starting January 1, 2030, the minimum contribution period for receiving basic pensions will be gradually increased from 15 years to 20 years, with an annual increment of six months. Employees reaching the statutory retirement age but not meeting the minimum contribution period may extend their contributions or make a lump-sum payment to meet the minimum requirement and receive monthly pensions.
Article 3:
Employees meeting the minimum contribution period may voluntarily choose flexible early retirement, up to three years before the statutory retirement age, provided that the retirement age is not lower than the original statutory age of 50 or 55 for women and 60 for men. Employees reaching the statutory retirement age may also choose flexible delayed retirement, up to three years, with mutual agreement from their employer. The implementation must respect employees’ wishes and cannot involve compulsory or disguised compulsory retirement.
Article 4:
The country will improve the pension insurance incentive mechanism, encouraging longer, higher, and later contributions for higher benefits. The calculation of basic pensions will be linked to individual contribution years and actual contributions, and personal account pensions will be determined based on retirement age and account balance.
Article 5:
The country will implement a priority employment strategy, promoting high-quality and full employment. The employment public service system will be improved, and lifelong vocational training will be enhanced. Support for youth employment and entrepreneurship will be provided, and job development for older workers and assistance for disadvantaged individuals will be strengthened. Measures against age discrimination in employment will be enhanced, and incentives for employers to hire older workers will be introduced.
Article 6:
Employers hiring workers beyond the statutory retirement age must ensure that workers receive fair wages, rest, labor safety and hygiene, and work injury protection. The rights of flexible employment and new employment form workers will be protected, and paid annual leave systems will be improved.
Article 7:
For individuals receiving unemployment benefits with less than one year until statutory retirement age, the duration of benefits will be extended to the statutory retirement age. During the period of gradual delay, the unemployment insurance fund will pay pension insurance contributions for these individuals as required.
Article 8:
The country will standardize and improve policies on early retirement for special occupations. Workers engaged in underground, high-altitude, high-temperature, or especially strenuous physical labor, as well as those working in high-altitude areas, may apply for early retirement if they meet the conditions.
Article 9:
The country will establish a coordinated pension service system combining home, community, and institutional care, and develop an inclusive childcare service system.
Obviously, the 60-55 retirement age has been one of the policies the goons at places like The Economist have long crocodile teared China on and that tantrum had been greatly memed on by leftists. Most 20th century socialist states maintained a retirement age around 55-60. This is a fairly sizeable clawback of a major worker’s concession, there’s no really denying it. The age increases to numbers like 63 and 58 for men and women respectively seem to be anticipating a further second increase to 65 and 60, whereupon the statutory age for white and blue collar working women might be even equalized at that stage (i.e. 55 to 60 for the latter). That is the game played in the West, where they seem to be gradually working their way to establishing the full pension retirement age at 70 with current “stretch-goal” numbers like 67 (US, Germany), 68 (UK).
The immediate one-two punch is the basic pension contribution period increase from 15 to 20 years (5 years) when retirement age increased only 3 years. Beyond the policy measures themselves, I would say that the promulgation of this statute indicates that the CPC believes that the demographic issue, and specifically, the decline in the overall working age population are real and rather serious if they would adjust the retirement age like this, a policy that affects the entire population and thus will have inevitable knock-on effects.
Of course, it’s arguable that this would merely be a bandage solution to artificially boost the working population numbers rather than addressing the root of the problem. If the CPC weren’t currently undergoing through the planned demolition of the real estate sector bubble, I would be seriously concerned at a lack of willingness in addressing, or even identifying, the base causes of the contemporary Chinese demographic issue.
67 in Australia as well (now, used to be 65), there was an attempt a few years ago to raise it to 70 but it was quashed, probably happen eventually though.
We all miss sometimes.
I don’t understand why immigration into China isn’t higher. It’d pretty handily address the problems of a “shrinking workforce.”
But even that is dumb (in itself). Just unbind pension into simple formula of taxes=(life expectancy -average age of retirement)/(working time). Can even do dumb referendums among workers every 5 years. Want more taxes and earlier retirement or less taxes and higher age? Instead some weird debt vehicles and deficits (and why in fuck its a province question?)
And immigration implies need for constant growth, which why? Not that china shouldn’t accept immigrants, but for more humanitarian reasons.
It’s less about constant growth now and more about maintenance. As of last year, China’s population is declining, meaning over time, their population will be weighted towards the elderly.
Lets say new births stopped in china and everyone under 20 is killed. Every year out of 20-60 (working age cohort) 2.5 percent will retire. If your economy growth is 5 percent you are still golden on maintenance front for like 5-7 years.
New births have not stopped nowhere nearly that badly
Lets say new births stopped in china and everyone under 20 is killed.
If your economy growth is 5 percent you are still goldenWhat a hypothetical
Because people under 20 only consume (in the social necessary sense), should i make graphs by taking current birth rate+demographic distribution to show that with increasing labor productivity raising retirement age is a pro-porky move to suppress wages?
Is it really true that teenagers don’t work in China? I admit that I’m ignorant but surely that can’t be right, even if it’s just uncompensated labor like helping with the family business or something.
but like realistically what percentage of people work? Say they all work after 17 (thats ignoring universities, whatever), and 20 % of petit bourgeoisie get help from 14 years old children, thats like average age of work start of 16.4.
I dunno, i find weird seeing working 16 year olds, aside from, as you said, manning small shops, maybe
(but i was being flippant for sake of round numbers).
Probably to prevent too many reactionary spies, and troublemakers trying to overthrow the CPC from entering the country
I suppose they need to continue raising the consciousness among the people and adding random migrants means that progress has to contend with even more inputs. A steady state population is easier to actually develop in some ways.
L within an L why the fuck would they gender a retirement age, what a load of horseshit
women live longer than men on avg
irrelevant for a state that should pursue gender equality, and a lower retirement for women is exactly the opposite policy that women living longer would imply
Then you would have them retire later, not earlier. Pensions are calculated based on remaining life expectancy at time of retirement, the older they are the higher the benefit because there’s less expected payments.
Having women retire earlier and live longer is George-Michael stealing a dollar and also stealing a banana. It doesn’t fix the issue, it doubles it
pretty big L, don’t see a need to try and justify this
I’m not sure why this is getting so much hate. It’s necessary to maintain the workforce and care for the elderly population. They have to address the negative consequences of the one child policy, would you rather they just ignore them? This is what a centrally planned economy looks like.
Not sure why this type of garbage mainstream econ “common sense” got upvoted.
Respecfuly, read Graeber’s BS jobs. China isn’t a magical place exempt from those issues. On the contrary, recent years there is an issue with larger youth unemployment due to too many graduates not finding white collar jobs i.e people want BS jobs that pay well and give benefits. It got nothing to do with productivity or the “workforce”.
Tell the office workers in every T1 city they have to take 4h off every week to help with local community services for example, or just reduce the work hours in general.
There are solutions, it requires the party to reevaluate their commitment to economic growth at any cost. China is a complicated topic but the easiest way for them to fail is to listen to exactly this type of mainstream western econ shitty rethoric and surprise surprise stupid decisions like this happens exactly when they do that.
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The negative consequences of an aging population with not enough people to replace them. Do you think elder care just magically happens?
How much is this informed by rising life expectancy? Chinese life expectancy was 64 years in 1980, 78 now. Increasing working years by 3 while life expectancy has increased by 14 doesn’t seem wild, especially with aging population.
a lot obviously, still not pog move.
What the hell Xi? Take that back right now! You think you’re Macron, being all neoliberal and shit? You’re supposed to set a good example. I hope you get a ton of protests everywhere in China.
Obviously ideally you’d never have to raise the retirement age, but I’m not going to presume that I know better than the entirety of the planning apparatus that decided this needed to happen in the PRC.
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Eh. Gendering it is weird, but with modern life expectancies an increase in pension age is I suppose expected.
This is probably a stupid idea, but I think beyond 60ish we should all be funnelled into roles as stewards of the land. Paid til retirement. Send out a relaxed patrol of older folk with rubbish claws, hedge trimmers, jet washers. No productivity targets or anything. Park ranger type of thing. Have them going about in their golf carts keeping an eye on things, giving out water refills, spreading seeds, collecting scientific data about bugs and whatnot. Rotate the activities. Their job is to make the world whimsical and beautiful. You can’t tell me old people wouldn’t love that shit. I would love it, even.
People would absolutely love them too. Imagine a bunch of sweet older folk come down and make your street look great. I’d be leaving snacks out for them. Maybe a bugle call for their arrival.
My main issue is that they are doing it completely top down, macron style. Put a vote to unions, would you like to have 30 % tax to fund pensions from 60, or 25% and retirement at 63. Nice easy, everyone happy
The unions are part of the top legislative body.
When you’re trying to compete with capitalist nations that will stoop far lower than you to outproduce and then wipe you off the map, you can’t deny yourself any advantage. This 0th stage of socialism/state capitalism/central planning making an attempt to do what it needs to do to survive.
Is it good? No, it’s terrible. Will it work? Maybe, maybe not, but I see why they have to try something. Is it justified? If it works to outproduce and then defeat the imperial core, yes.
Compete in what? Lowest labor compensation? usa growth is fairly ephemeral 1.5 % if one were to remove immigration influence, with some indeterminable amount of that is financialization of human relations (any time you close kindergarten and hire someone to watch a child/instead of elderly grandma you increase gdp after all).
They outproduce them already, they need to show human face instead of race to the bottom with porky, porky has colonies, you can’t outcompete in that space.
And i described my ideal solution tbh: give workers a collective choice - bonuses include - (a) not a problem for government anymore (b) manufacturing consent logic - let people have lively debate about some issues not ultimately important to the state © same commie logic - let people decide what they want in spheres that can be offloaded from the state
That’s still better benefits than the non-existent American retirement
Oh wow the people’s republic is better than the Nazi settler state, what a high bar
🤷🏻♂️
To be clear, you’re correct and it’s certainly impressive that they built their socioeconomic system without looting the world. I just think we can evaluate some decisions on their own merits
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Having people work for longer would ease pressure on pension budgets with many Chinese provinces already reeling from large deficits
The delusional liberal fear of deficits raises it ugly head again, showing just how riven with liberals China really is, those pensions are owed to the workers at state demand, there shouldn’t be any “budget” issues unless the state itself is fuckin around and handing that money to speculating capitalists, and without solving that underlying issue delaying the payouts will have no effect on the so-called “problem”, even from their liberal epistemology it’s just kicking the can down the road
This is total bullshit and a coup for Chinese libs
