National Assembly Delegate: If the retirement age has not been increased to 62, do not rush to propose raising it to 65.

At the discussion session on the socio -economic situation on October 30, National Assembly delegate Nguyen Thien Nhan (HCMC delegation) proposed raising the retirement age to 65 with the expectation of having 5 million workers to serve the target of double-digit economic growth. He also suggested a solution to increase the fertility rate from 1.91 to 2.1 before 2035.

This proposal immediately attracted public attention, because this is an issue not only related to the labor structure but also directly affects social security, job quality and public health in the context of Vietnam entering the population aging stage.

According to Article 169 of the 2019 Labor Code, employees who meet the conditions on social insurance payment time as prescribed are entitled to pension when they reach retirement age. The retirement age under normal working conditions is adjusted according to the roadmap until reaching 62 years old for men in 2028 and 60 years old for women in 2035.

From this reality, National Assembly Deputy Truong Xuan Cu (Vice President of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Association of the Elderly) said: "I think it is not possible to increase the retirement age to 65 that quickly. Because currently, our country has not increased the retirement age to 62. There are not many countries in the world where the retirement age is 65."

National Assembly Deputy Truong Xuan Cu, Vice President of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Association of the Elderly . Photo: National Assembly

According to Mr. Cu, Vietnam is in the stage of population aging (the proportion of people aged 60 and over exceeds 10% of the total population). It is forecasted that by around 2036, Vietnam will become a country with an aging population (the proportion of people aged 65 and over reaches 14%). In that context, all decisions related to pension policies need to be carefully considered to avoid negative impacts on the labor market, especially job opportunities for the younger generation.

He believes that it is possible to study the extension of working age for some specific professions such as teaching, medicine, scientific research... However, this needs to be based on practice, with specific and careful assessments at each step.

"It cannot be done quickly, because doing it too quickly is not based on anything," said Mr. Cu.

Conditions for developing "silver economy"

From another perspective, National Assembly member Hoang Van Cuong (Hanoi delegation) analyzed that currently, life expectancy is increasing, health care and living conditions are better, so the working capacity of the elderly is also extended. Many countries have faced population aging, high proportion of elderly people, and low young labor force, so they voluntarily extend the retirement age. Some countries still have people working until 70 years old.

According to Mr. Cuong, people call it the “silver economy” - the economy of people with gray hair and exploiting the maximum advantage of this group, because many people only reach that age to best promote their value and contribute.

However, occupations that require high labor intensity, quick reflexes, and precise operations are not suitable for the elderly. Therefore, the development of the "silver economy" must be accompanied by a very flexible model and method to exploit the dominant group, while not forcing the group that is no longer adaptable.

Delegate Hoang Van Cuong shares on the topic of increasing retirement age

Delegate Hoang Van Cuong analyzed: "If the regulations are rigid and mandatory, the benefits will go hand in hand with the downsides. Moreover, Vietnam still has a relatively abundant source of young labor that needs to be fully and effectively exploited before thinking about mandatory measures to extend the retirement age."

He affirmed that the 2019 Labor Code has a roadmap to raise the retirement age for men to 62 and for women to 60. Therefore, for now, we do not have to consider raising the retirement age to 65.