OpinionThinking About China

Beijing Tells Aspiring Retirees They Will Have to Work Longer

The authorities have raised the retirement age to relieve strains imposed by Chinese demographic trends.
Save
Beijing Tells Aspiring Retirees They Will Have to Work Longer
Residents lining up for lunch at the Yanyuan community for senior citizens, in the outskirts of Beijing, on Dec. 5, 2018. Greg Baker/AFP via Getty Images
Milton Ezrati
Updated:
0:00
Commentary

China has always had a younger retirement age than most of the rest of the world. For most of recent history, the country has been able to count on a huge flow of young people into the workforce. With so many young hands in fields, on production lines, and paying into the pension system, Chinese society could easily afford to move workers along into retirement.

Milton Ezrati
Milton Ezrati
Author
Milton Ezrati is a contributing editor at The National Interest, an affiliate of the Center for the Study of Human Capital at the University at Buffalo (SUNY), and chief economist for Vested, a New York-based communications firm. Before joining Vested, he served as chief market strategist and economist for Lord, Abbett & Co. He also writes frequently for City Journal and blogs regularly for Forbes. His latest book is "Thirty Tomorrows: The Next Three Decades of Globalization, Demographics, and How We Will Live."