As the nation’s average retirement age gradually increases, office workers have said they want to save on average NT$16.02 million (US$538,188 ) before retiring, a 1111 Online Job Bank (1111人力銀行) survey released yesterday found.
The average retirement age of office workers increased to 58.1 in 2015, 0.3 percent higher than the previous year, Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics data showed.
The survey found that more than 57 percent of office workers are planning for retirement, with about 35 percent having started planning when they were 30.
Respondents wanted to save an average of NT$16.02 million for retirement, with women wanting to save NT$530,000 more than their male counterparts, according to 1111 Job Bank vice president Daniel Lee (李大華).
The nation’s low birth rate and government pension reforms have made workers concerned about their financial security after retirement, which has encouraged them to build sizable nest eggs, he said.
Given the 22-year gap between the average retirement age of 58.1 and average life expectancy of 80.2, workers are looking to have about NT$60,000 per month after retiring, more than the average monthly salary (including regular and non-regular earnings) of NT$48,790 last year, Lee said.
The poll also found that 91.7 percent of respondents want to continue working after retirement, with 76.3 percent hoping to find part-time employment, while 15.4 percent wanted to work full-time.
The reasons cited for continuing to work include physical and mental health (64.8 percent), concerns about loss of life focus (60.2 percent), interest (52.2 percent) and fear of insufficient retirement funds.
The poll was conducted between Aug. 15 and Friday, with 1,073 valid samples collected.
It has a confidence level of 95 percent and a margin of error of 2.94 percentage points.
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