Early retirement examined

Government workers may be allowed to retire after 20 years instead of 25 years, an Examination Yuan official said yesterday.

The move comes as part of efforts by officials to slim down the nation's bloated and bureaucratic government.

Wu Rong-ming (吳容明), head of the Ministry of Civil Service under the Examination Yuan, said the new rules would allow government workers to retire after 20 years of service.

Current regulations require 25 years of service before a worker qualifies for retirement. Alternately, a government employee aged 60 or older must have worked for at least five years.

The Examination Yuan is scheduled to host a cross-ministerial meeting on Friday to discuss its proposals for government reform. The proposals will be submitted to a government reform committee for further discussion later this month.

Wu said the proposed changes would come as a package that will safeguard the legal rights of government employees. The package of changes would cover severance pay and training programs for workers transferred to new positions, Wu said.

Wu also said that some civil servants will become private employees -- instead of losing their jobs -- as a part of the government's effort to slim down. The government plans to outsource some of its functions to the private sector.