New retirement policy in 2017

Age will be raised gradually and continuously

China plans to unveil its policy on delayed retirement in 2017, and is expected to be implemented as early as 2022, according to China's human resources minister.

Related government departments will try to finish drafting the policy this year and submit it to the central government, and seek public feedback next year before publishing it in 2017, Yin Weimin, minister of human resources and social security, said Tuesday during a press conference.

"We will give the public advanced notice, and the policy will be implemented at least five years later," Yin said.

"China will raise the retirement age progressively and in tiny steps, to push back retirement by a few months each year, and achieve the legal retirement age over a relatively long period," Yin said.

Delaying the retirement age in a progressive way is adopted by many countries, and some developed countries have pushed back the retirement age to 67. But the average retirement age for the 80 million retired laborers in China is 54, according to Yin.

China set a retirement age of 60 for men and 55 or 50 for women, which has remained unchanged since the 1950s.

Peng Xizhe, dean of the School of Social Development and Public Policy at Fudan University, told the Global Times that China should not peg a fixed retirement age in its new policy. "Delaying retirement is a continuous process to deal with the shrinking workforce and aging society."

The workforce population from 16 to 59 years old started to drop in 2013, which sharply contrasts with the past, Yin said.

Peng suggested to first set a uniform retirement age for men and women, and then progressively raise the age in some professions as a pilot project, such as civil servants and technicians.

Yin also said that China faces a more complicated and arduous employment environment in 2015 amid slower economic growth.

To achieve the target of creating at least 10 million urban jobs in 2015 requires greater efforts this year, as China has around 15 million new workers in 2015, including 7.49 million college graduates, he said. He added that the government's priority is to ensure employment for college graduates.

The country created 13.22 million new urban jobs in 2014, with the urban unemployment rate at 4.09 percent.