Thuy Dung
There have been numerous forecasts by organizations and researchers that the social insurance will run into a huge deficit in the near future, mainly resulting from an imbalance between the fund’s input and output.
However, Long noted, a comprehensive evaluation is needed to measure the effectiveness of the solution on extending the retirement age to 65 for all from the current 60 for men and 55 for women.
The social insurance fund is to become imbalanced as the amount paid by laborers and employers is 20% of the wages currently and expected to be raised to 22% from next year while the highest amount paid to retirees may be as high as 75% of the wages.
Another reason is the aging population as the number of people paying social insurance tends to fall due to declining birth rate. Meanwhile, the number of people receiving pensions is rising due to higher life expectancy.
Long said that increasing the retirement age to balance the fund’s input and output is a solution many countries have been applying.
Studies conducted in recent years point out that if Vietnam’s retirement ages are increased as suggested, the social insurance fund will remain balanced by dozens of more years.
However, with current socioeconomic conditions in Vietnam, it is necessary to carefully consider this solution with many questions to be answered. Key issues include how to secure enough jobs for one million new laborers each year when older people still stay in the labor market, and whether old people are really willing to continue working for a longer period of time.
Findings of a survey conducted in 2011 with over 4,000 people aged over 50 indicate that fewer than 10% of them want to continue working after they turn 60.
According to Long, the main reason for this is health issues, and thus it is necessary to carry out a sociological survey on a larger scale to provide accurate information for policymakers.
Furthermore, balancing the fund is only one of the targets and many other socioeconomic targets should be taken into account before deciding on increasing the retirement ages.
In addition, the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs suggests establishing a supplementary pension fund. Regarding the proposal, Long said that such a fund has been applied in many countries, especially developed ones.
The fund that will be used for investment aims to increase regular incomes for people registering for social insurance when they retire, he added.
Nevertheless, it is important to note that such a fund is set up based on voluntary contributions of employers and employees.
Although the supplementary fund is voluntary among employers and employees, there will still be involvement of the State to facilitate effective operations of the fund and ensure benefits and duties of the parties involved, Long said.
Đăng ký: VietNam News
