The government has issued a roadmap for increasing the retirement age starting from 2021 following the adoption of revisions to the Labour Law that raises the threshold to 62 for men and 60 for women.

Some special occupations including preschool teachers should be allowed to retire earlier than the age set in the Labour Code, said Trinh Thanh Hang, head of the department for woman affairs of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour (VGCL).

The National Assembly (NA) yesterday morning voted on the amended labour code with changes to the national holidays and labour practices, after months of heated debate among workers, employers and experts.

The retirement age for male and female workers will increase from 60 and 55 at present to 62 and 60 respectively in 2035 under the revised Labour Code that was passed by National Assembly deputies on November 20.

The labour ministry has proposed to make Vietnamese Family Day on June 28 a national holiday.

Policymakers amending the Labor Code want to lift the retirement age but a survey has found that 50.7 percent of polled workers oppose the idea.

Doan Mau Diep, Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, speaks to the Tiền Phong (Vanguard) newspaper about how Vietnam will revise the retirement age for workers or State employees.

The proposal to raise the retirement age is necessary as Vietnam’s retirement age regulations have been outdated after 60 years, and the average life expectancy of the Vietnamese is higher than that of people from many Asia-Pacific countries.

Bui Sy Loi, vice chairman of National Assembly’s Committee for Social Affairs talks to Hải Quan (Customs) newspaper about a proposal to increase retirement age in the draft amended Labour Law.

Government needs to take a close look at working hours, wages, productivity and unemployment before making any decision on expanding overtime hours.

The retirement age for male and female workers could increase from 60 and 55 at present to 62 and 60 respectively from 2021, according to the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA).

 VietNamNet Bridge – The Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs has come up with two scenarios for increasing retirement age to 60 for women and 62 for men; or 60 for women and 65 for men.

 VietNamNet Bridge – Bui Sy Loi, vice-chairman of the NA Committee on Social Affairs, talks to the Ha Noi Moi (New Ha Noi) about proposed changes in the retirement age and the social insurance policy.

 VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam is now at its peak of the golden population with young people making up a majority, but also at the threshold of population ageing. As the number of old people is on the rise,

 VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam has one of the fastest population aging rates in the world, which is a major challenge when it comes to dealing with pension and social welfare issues for the elderly,

 A study of people born within a year of each other has uncovered a huge gulf in the speed at which their bodies age.

 VietNamNet Bridge – The Vietnam Social Insurance Fund is suffering from big losses of revenues due to the early retirement of laborers, said a senior executive of the fund.

Pham Thi Hai Chuyen, Minister of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, said that aside from raising the retirement age, there have been many solutions proposed to maintain the balance of revenues and expenses of the social insurance fund.

VietNamNet Bridge – As part of the revised draft Law on Social Insurance, Viet Nam is considering gradually raising the retirement age to 62 years for men and 60 for women starting in 2016.