40-year-old has worried about being fired
Ms. Bui Thi Ngoan and 6 colleagues in the garment company in Phuong Liet ward (Hanoi) have just gone through 2 stressful weeks because they were almost fired.
Ms. Ngoan said that she and 6 female colleagues in the company (aged 38-42) were notified as "possible for termination" for the reason of "not ensuring labor productivity". Accordingly, based on the results of the assessment of labor output and overtime output in the second and third quarters of 2025, the company selected the group with the lowest assessment score to announce the possibility of jobless leave in the fourth quarter of 2025.
Ms. Ngoan said that among the 7 people who received the notice, 2 were 38 years old, 2 were 40 years old and 3 were 42 years old. The assessment of labor output and overtime output at her company is quite simple, because her income is mainly " Following the product". Although they knew that the company's assessment was not wrong, the group of 7 people wrote a proposal, and at the same time suggested that the company reconsider, promising to achieve the minimum labor output according to the company's average.
"After 2 weeks of stress, we were considered to continue staying to work. However, I am so happy and worried, I don't know when the company will consider another cut. In the garment industry, women in their 40s have mostly reduced labor productivity, only a small part maintains their form, leading the productivity of each session due to good health and high skills," Ms. Ngoan said sadly.
Not being proactively considered by the company for a cut, Ms. Nguyen Thi Nhai, 37 years old, a worker at a leather shoe manufacturing company in Yen Nghia Industrial Park (Ha Dong Ward, Hanoi) feels that her health has declined a lot, not meeting the job requirements.
"After 16 years of working, my health has declined a lot, my back and nose are often inflamed due to sticky rice inhaling, plastic inhaling, industrial leather... I plan to work for a few more years before quitting and opening a grocery store," said Ms. Nhai.
Increasing the retirement age must be according to each stage, subject and job position
Mr. Hoang Xuan Nghia (Hoang Mai ward, Hanoi) was former deputy director of a Ministry-level professional department, retiring in April 2022.
After half a year of spending time with his family, Mr. Nghia began receiving phone calls from his former agency colleagues and reporters.
Comrades invite me to attend seminars and workshops as an expert; reporters from newspapers continuously ask me about the field I have pursued for more than 30 years. At first, I was a bit shy, but then I found that participating in forums and answering interviews would help my retirement life become less monotonous and boring because I went there, met my old colleagues... and also had passive income, said Mr. Nghia.
According to Mr. Nghia, a year ago, he agreed to sign a contract as an expert for a joint venture company with Japan as a senior consultant in human resources. The job is not too limited in time, brings in good income and helps him to use and promote a lot of professional knowledge.
Speaking to Lao Dong reporter on November 1, Mr. Le Quang Trung - former Deputy Director in charge of the Department of Employment said that determining a reasonable retirement age is a huge problem, having a direct impact on the socio-economy and directly related to the rights and interests of tens of millions of workers.
The regulation on increasing the retirement age is related to many economic and social factors. In particular, factors such as: Effective use of human resources; economic growth in employment and unemployment issues; new technical and technological qualifications; quantity, quality and population structure; gender equality; balance of social insurance funds... Therefore, the proposal to increase the retirement age to 65 years old needs to be assessed, analyzed, and reasoned on the basis of science and practice, assess the impact of each factor... and international experience to develop plans to increase the retirement age for each stage, each subject and each job position.
We need to focus on solutions to improve labor productivity, improve the quality of human resources, apply new science and technology, develop economic sectors to create more jobs for workers... For the elderly, this is a valuable labor force that will provide the market with a large number of skilled workers (millions of people) who have been trained, many people with high qualifications and many specific fields, have working experience, are knowledgeable and comply with the law, desire and desire to work, contribute... The problem is the need for appropriate solutions to promote this elderly labor force, even if they have retired, need a job program for elderly workers or a two-life program, a return to work program... to support the elderly to return to work, support businesses, said Mr. Le Quang Trung.
Emphasizing the factor of "stage, subject and job position", Mr. Trung also suggested carefully considering each subject and job. There are specific, toxic, hard-working industries and jobs where workers cannot "able to sleep" until the age of 65.
