A number of National Assembly deputies recently took a stand against the proposal to increase retirement ages for fear that it would drive up the unemployment rate among youth.

The law as it was drafted would have changed the Law on Social Insurance in such a way that, beginning next year, social insurance benefits would be paid out based on average payments into the system instead of the average of the last ten years of salaries. This would have lowered the benefits for many.

The draft also suggests that the NA vote to change retirement ages. As a result, beginning in 2016, the retirement ages for state workers, which would be progressively increased. Beginning in 2020, the retirement ages for employees in the private sector would also be increased.

The draft regulation, however, faced strong opposition by many NA deputies at a recent NA discussion on the issue. Ngo Van Minh, an NA deputy from central Quang Nam Province said Vietnam is going against the world trend as several other countries are trying to lower retirement ages.

“It’s doesn't make sense to increase retirement ages due to lax management of pension funds. Currently, millions of workers have yet to pay for social insurances. More attention should be paid to working out a solution to increase social insurance collection instead of increasing retirement ages,” he commented.

Ngo Van Minh, NA deputy from Quang Nam Province

Pham Truong Dan, an NA deputy from the same province, said the proposal to increase retirement ages is unfair to women, as they would have to work until reaching the age of 60. Many women would have health problems that are uncared for.

“As far as I know many university graduates have failed to find a job. If this regulation takes effect, it would increase the unemployment rate among young people,” Dan noted.

Some other NA deputies said that it seems that there has been a trend towards an increase in working ages in several sectors, which goes against the Labour Law. They urged drastic measures to deal with those who have social insurance fee arrears.

Tran Du Lich, NA deputy from HCM City, attributed the situation to the fact that recently the country has increased salary levels several times while recording no increase in productivity.

He said that that, currently, the size of the state administrative system is on the increase with many people expecting to retire with early benefits.

"The solutions to  these problems must be worked out, instead of the option of increasing retirement ages,” he added.