China raises retirement age for first time since 1950s

bbc.com

37 points·haunter··6 comments

"Retiring before the statutory age will not be allowed, state news agency Xinhua reported"

I'm curious what this really means - just that people can't pull from the retirement pension before the statutory age, similar to social security in the US? Or is it somehow stricter? There are certainly unemployed people in China. Are there restrictions against a self-funded early retirement?

Huh I never thought about it from that angle, I dunno. The older people in our family who retired, were forced to retire at the retirement age (e.g. 55).

(Note, obviously, not everyone actually retires at the retirement age, you just legally can't sign contracts for work, so you do it under the table)

I guess if you're technical, you don't get pension until the mandatory age. But the minimum working period is like 15 years or something. At least before.

I have no idea what it means now.

Of course it’s the former. However, you need to contribute over a threshold of years before getting the benefits. This is currently 15, and will gradually prolong alongside with the retirement age, to I think 20.

From:

>50 to 55 (blue collar women)

>55 to 58 (white-collar women)

>60 to 63 (men)

For reference, according to Worldbank data, Chinese male life expectancy was 76, while female was 81 in 2022.

So shouldn't women have to work longer than men instead of the other way around?

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