Enforceable retirement age raised from 60 to 65

The legislature yesterday approved an amendment to the Labor Standards Law (勞動基準法) that stipulates that employers cannot force employees to retire before they reach the age of 65, increasing the limit from 60 years.

After the proposal’s passage, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Yang Chiung-ying (楊瓊瓔) said she had proposed the bill to protect elderly people’s right to work, given that the nation’s average life expectancy is now 76 years.

Statistics from the Council of Labor Affairs show about 94,000 workers aged between 60 and 65 would immediately benefit from the legislation, Yang said.

When asked for comment, KMT Legislator Chen Chieh (陳杰), who doubles as chairman of the Chinese National Federation of Industries, said passing the amendment was necessary, given the changes in society that had taken place since the regulation was last amended in 1984.

‘WORLD TRENDS’

KMT Legislator Chung Shao-ho (鍾紹和) said the amendment helped the nation catch up with “world trends.”

“Although Ministry of Economic Affairs officials were worried that the amendment might contribute to unemployment among youngsters, this concept was wrong. It is the government’s responsibility to create job opportunities for them,” Chung said.

Yang said workers aged over 55 who would like to retire after having worked in one company for 15 years can still apply for a retirement pension.

The amendment would not have any major impact on government finances, because the bill would only influence a relatively small number of people, Yang said.

Business groups expressed concern over the amendment.

“The age of employees is not an issue; their competitiveness is,” National Association of Small and Medium Enterprises vice chairman Tim Lin (林廷芳) said by telephone.

He said that the new law would have a limited impact on the nation’s small and medium enterprises, since they have a relatively small number of employees compared with big corporations.

SKILLS

But any senior employees who lack the necessary skills in the labor market will have a hard time at work if the government doesn’t also implement a supporting measure to encourage on-the-job training, he said.

Jason Fong (馮志良), deputy secretary-general of the Chinese National Federation of Industries, expressed opposition to the new regulation, saying that “such an age requirement should be decided by the market, not the government.”

The revised regulations would further hinder the hiring of new workers, since senior employees may decide to retire much later, he said.

He said that companies in different sectors have varying requirements for employees.

Some employees stay on as company consultants or advisers after 65, Fong said.

But for labor-intensive industries, the regulation would prove pointless, since older workers may not be physically capable of doing their work, he said.