China Likely To Raise Retirement Age By 2017

Feb 28, 2016 07:39 AM EST

Elderly Chinese day traders talk about the market as they sit in front of stock tickers on a board at a brokerage firm in Beijing, China. China's economic growth has slowed to its weakest point in years to 7.4 percent. While its growth is still stronger than most world economies, China announced Tuesday a strategy to encourage domestic consumption and investment including retail spending in an effort to boost growth. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

To ease pressures from an aging population, China is set to work on raising the required retirement age by 2017, according to an official at the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.

The country's statutory retirement age is 60 for men and 50 for female blue-collar employees. For female white-collar employees, the retirement age is 55.

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Jin Weigang, a researcher with the ministry, was quoted by the official Xinhua news agency as saying that the government is planning to implement the new statutory retirement age in 2022.

That means there will be a five-year transitional period from the introduction of the plan in 2017, Jin said on Saturday.

"The plan is likely to be implemented in 2022 after a five-year transitional period," China News Service quoted Jin was quoted as saying.

The state-backed Xinhua news agency has reported that the Chinese government is bent on raising the retirement age in the country as China continues to experience a shrinking workforce.

The trend has already taken a toll into the country's labor market and pension system, the report added.

Jin stressed that the Chinese government very well leard from the flexible retirement policies currently being implemented in other major countries.

The Chinese government has expressed concern over the shrinking workforce as the population of people aged between 16 to 60 in China dropped by 4.87 million to 911 million last year.

Official government data showed that the country's workforce had declined for the fourth consecutive year in 2015.

The World Bank earlier said that the rapidly aging population in China has limited impact on the country's economy. According to the World Bank, China's future growth will come more from more productivity gains rather than population dividend.

China, according to the latest World Bank report, leads countries around East Asia and the Pacific to have faster aging population than any other region in history.

TagsChina Retirement, China Retirement Age, China Aging Workforce, China workforce