Trio of challenges: fiscal, financial and social pressures
Mr. Tim Evans - General Director of HSBC Vietnam - shared that Vietnam is soon becoming one of the countries with the fastest population aging rate in Asia, meaning that Vietnam has less time to prepare for infrastructure, finance and social security systems. The current decade marks the end of the very important "golden population structure" period of Vietnam - a period when the labor force was abundant, which was the main driver for economic development.
According to Mr. Tim Evans, Vietnam faces a " tripartite" of challenges in terms of finance, finance and society.
First, Vietnam faces a rapidly increasing fiscal burden. Due to changes in the population structure, investment often slows down when the labor force ratio decreases and GDP growth will weaken significantly. Compared to many other developed economies, this impact will be more serious for Vietnam, because most of the current retired generation in these countries holds many assets in hand.
Second, the financial pressure that the younger generation faces is increasing. Although Vietnam is recognized as having relatively high quality education in Southeast Asia (ranking 2nd in the latest PISA ranking), which is the main driver of a productive workforce, the labor output per working hour is still relatively low at 10.2, behind Thailand (17.5), Malaysia (32.9) and Singapore (84.4). As the workforce shrinks, young workers will have to shoulder the additional responsibility of supporting a large number of retirees, while still facing escalating living costs. Finally, originating from ancient Asian traditions, family structures often require children to shoulder the responsibility of caring for their elderly parents. The social impact of the aging process has transformed into a great pressure in caring for elderly parents that the next generation faces - those who take care of their parents and raise their children.
Workers directly do not want to increase retirement age
At the 10th Session of the 15th National Assembly, National Assembly delegate Nguyen Thien Nhan said that if we increase the retirement age from the current level to 65 years old like in other countries, the number of workers will increase to more than 5 million people per year.
According to the delegate, if we increase the retirement age with a roadmap, for example within 10 years, the requirement to increase annual labor to achieve GDP of 10%/year is completely capable of being met. However, many workers do not agree with this proposal.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Cham (worker at a garment company in Bac Ninh) expressed her disagreement with the proposal to increase the retirement age to 65. She said that at the age of 40, she clearly felt a decline in her health, and sometimes when she went to work, she found it very difficult. If she was 60-65, she would definitely encounter many difficulties in her hand and footwork.
"Currently, after many years of working, I often have pain in my legs, body, and back; if I am over 60, my health will definitely decrease a lot" - Ms. Cham said. According to the female worker who has been involved in the sewing profession for 16 years, the retirement age for direct workers under the age of 60 is appropriate.
Although not a direct worker, Mr. Ha Doan Du (manager in an FDI enterprise in Hanoi) also said that raising the retirement age to 65 years old for direct workers is not appropriate.
Even if I work in a management position, if I still work at that age, I will no longer be agile, while technology is constantly developing - Mr. Du expressed.
According to Mr. Du, he is only over 40 years old but sometimes when he is working, he feels "bored", at the age of 65, he will certainly face many difficulties when working. Therefore, many direct workers will not agree with the increase in retirement age.
A commune union chairman in Bac Ninh province said that the current retirement age for civil servants is reasonable, and the issue of raising the retirement age in the current period should not be considered.
Ms. Phan Thi Thien - Chairwoman of the Trade Union of Long Cuong Company, Ho Chi Minh City - said that workers over 60 years old have no longer guaranteed labor capacity, especially workers directly involved in production. In fact, with the current working conditions, salaries, and income, many workers hope to retire early. If the retirement age is raised to 65, it will not only not ensure the health of workers, but also lose opportunities for young workers who have just graduated.
"For highly qualified workers such as professors, doctors, and scientific researchers who do not directly work with their limbs and feet, and are in good health, they should be encouraged to extend their retirement age to take advantage of their intelligence" - Ms. Thien proposed.
According to an expert on labor - trade unions, increasing the retirement age depends on the subject, but direct workers should not increase if working conditions do not improve.
