PETALING JAYA: If there is a decision made to increase the retirement age, the implementation must be gradual and a comprehensive study must be done, said Lee Heng Guie, the executive director of the Socio-Economic Research Centre (SERC).
SERC is under the Associated Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Malaysia (ACCCIM).
Citing the need to look at various factors, Lee said all parties should first understand why such a call appeared from time to time.
“With Malaysians’ life expectancy increasing to 75 years old, a longer lifespan would mean more savings are needed to fund one’s life post-retirement.
“Although our labour participation rate is quite high, our ageing segment also has increased, where we have close to 3.2 million people aged 60 and above which account for 10% of the total population,” he said.
“The number will go up by 2030 and 2050. If we have an ageing population, eventually our birth rate will fall and fewer people will get into the labour force.
“All these will impact productivity in the long term,” he added yesterday.
Prior to increasing the retirement age, Lee said a careful and comprehensive study must be done, especially in considering the current context of workforce demographic profile, as well as the presence of high youth employment rate.
“There is about 10.3% of unemployed youths, which is three times more than the national unemployment rate of 3.3%.
“And we must not neglect the foreign workers’ factor,” he said, adding that the flexibility given to elderly workers should also be considered, as not all of them are willing to remain in the workforce.
“There’s a need to craft our own flexible human resource policy to retain experienced workers rather than make it mandatory or compulsory,” he said.
Citing Singapore as an example, Lee said the republic has recently proposed to raise the retirement age over a time frame, from the current 62 to 63 in 2022, and to 65 by 2030.
“Singapore has the re-employment law, which requires companies to offer eligible employees the option to continue to work until 67 when they at the retirement age of 62,” he added.
However, Lee cautioned that raising the retirement age hastily would result in a huge impact on the public sector, which has 1.6 million workers.
“Based on the 2019 budget, emoluments accounts for 31.6% of the total operating expenditure and retirement takes about 10.2% of total operating expenditure,” he said.Pointing out that some employers already have such flexible employment policy for retired workers in place, Lee said there were fears the age extension could dampen the morale of existing staff, whose upward progression is hindered.
“I think there is always a consideration and concern to take into account before hastily pushing the retirement age. It should be done gradually, if at all,” he said.
SERC is under the Associated Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Malaysia (ACCCIM).
Citing the need to look at various factors, Lee said all parties should first understand why such a call appeared from time to time.
“With Malaysians’ life expectancy increasing to 75 years old, a longer lifespan would mean more savings are needed to fund one’s life post-retirement.
“Although our labour participation rate is quite high, our ageing segment also has increased, where we have close to 3.2 million people aged 60 and above which account for 10% of the total population,” he said.
“The number will go up by 2030 and 2050. If we have an ageing population, eventually our birth rate will fall and fewer people will get into the labour force.
“All these will impact productivity in the long term,” he added yesterday.
Prior to increasing the retirement age, Lee said a careful and comprehensive study must be done, especially in considering the current context of workforce demographic profile, as well as the presence of high youth employment rate.
“There is about 10.3% of unemployed youths, which is three times more than the national unemployment rate of 3.3%.
“And we must not neglect the foreign workers’ factor,” he said, adding that the flexibility given to elderly workers should also be considered, as not all of them are willing to remain in the workforce.
“There’s a need to craft our own flexible human resource policy to retain experienced workers rather than make it mandatory or compulsory,” he said.
Citing Singapore as an example, Lee said the republic has recently proposed to raise the retirement age over a time frame, from the current 62 to 63 in 2022, and to 65 by 2030.
“Singapore has the re-employment law, which requires companies to offer eligible employees the option to continue to work until 67 when they at the retirement age of 62,” he added.
However, Lee cautioned that raising the retirement age hastily would result in a huge impact on the public sector, which has 1.6 million workers.
“Based on the 2019 budget, emoluments accounts for 31.6% of the total operating expenditure and retirement takes about 10.2% of total operating expenditure,” he said.Pointing out that some employers already have such flexible employment policy for retired workers in place, Lee said there were fears the age extension could dampen the morale of existing staff, whose upward progression is hindered.
“I think there is always a consideration and concern to take into account before hastily pushing the retirement age. It should be done gradually, if at all,” he said.
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