Retirement age could increase by 5 years in Vietnam

Vietnam's Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs has proposed that the retirement age for certain types of workers should be increased by five years.

Accordingly, the new retirement age for such subjects will be 65 for men and 60 for women, local media Tuoitre (the Youth) news reported on Saturday, citing source from the ministry.

The extended retirement age should be applied for those workers, both men and women, who have high level of professional skills and are engaged in managerial jobs, or belong to special cases.

Such an extension of retirement age will help ease the payment burden of the pension fund, which is at risk of insolvency, the ministry said.

The ministry has made another proposal under which the retirement age for women will be increased according to a roadmap.

Tran Thi Thuy Nga, head of the ministry's Social Insurance Department, said the ministry is getting feedback from concerned agencies about the proposals before submitting to the government for consideration and approval in March.

Currently, the overall actual average retirement age in Vietnam stays at 53.2, according to statistics from the Vietnam Social Insurance Agency (VSI). As for men, the actual average retirement age is 55.1, while the age is 51.6 for women.

All these ages are lower than the current statutory retirement age of 60 for men and 55 for women. Meanwhile, the average life span of Vietnamese people is on the rise, currently staying at 73.

If approved, the new retirement age will be applied from Jan. 1, 2014.