Plan for increasing retirement age needs to be considered carefully

ABO/NDO – The Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs’ (MOLISA) proposal to raise the retirement age to 60 for women and 62 for men continues to receive mixed opinions.

The increase of the retirement age should be considered carefully.

The increase of the retirement age has always received special interest from the public during the drafting of the 2017 Law on Gender Equality, the 2012 Labour Code and the 2014 Law on Social Insurance. It is a fact that it is a complex issue that should be carefully considered.

Many people have stated that the option of adding three or four months of working age in each successive year is appropriate. However, the MOLISA has proposed the second scenario of an incremental six-month rise each year.

 

This year’s revision of the Labour Code continued to address this issue. Accordingly, the MOLISA has come up with two options. The first is to increase the retirement age to 60 for women and 62 for men by adding four months and three months to the current retirement age every year until it reaches the new retirement age, respectively. As the second option, the retirement age would be raised by six months every year.

 

For employees who lose their ability to work or do heavy, hazardous and dangerous jobs, may retire prematurely by no more than five years. Meanwhile, employees with high professional skills, as well as those who are in charge of management and special positions, have the right to retire no later than five years in comparison with the regulations. According to many experts, the proposal aims to ensure equal opportunities and the right to choose jobs for all labourers. The plan to raise the retirement age each year will avoid shocks to labourers or upsetting other regulations.

 

According to the MOLISA, the rapid increase of the retirement age is crucial because Vietnamese people’s life expectancy is rising and their stature and health have been improved. Therefore, 55-year-old women and 60-year-old men can continue to work and devote themselves to the motherland.

 

On the other hand, apart from jobs, female labourers have to do housework chores more than men. Therefore, it is crucial to give priority to them, particularly those who do heavy and harmful jobs.