The government is studying the feasibility of raising the mandatory retirement age to plug the huge deficit in the pension fund, the China Economic Weekly reports.

The social security fund was 800 billion yuan (US$102 billion) in the red at the end of last year, compared to 36 billion yuan (US$4.6 billion) in 2000, the Chinese-language magazine said, citing a Ministry of Labour and Social Security document.

The magazine quoted unidentified ministry officials as saying that they would put forward a proposal on raising the retirement age to the higher authorities within a month.

Guo Yue, a researcher with the All-China Federation of Trade Unions Research Centre, attributed the shortfall to the fact that many employees retire in their 40s or 50s, much earlier than the requisite age 60 for men and 55 for women, or in some cases, 50.

Raising the legal retirement age will delay the payment of pension, according to experts.

Official statistics showed that in 2000, the average retirement age was 51.2.

Zhang Hongmei, a bank employee who retired at 45 in 2003, said she is happy with the 1,200 yuan (US$153) monthly pension. Before retirement, she was paid 1,400 yuan (US$178) a month. Zhang and many others contributed less to the pension fund than they would have if they had retired at the prescribed age; but enjoy full pension benefits. The policy allowing earlier retirement was implemented in the mid-1990s, when State-owned enterprises were reformed.

1

2

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)