It is not the right time now for China to reform its retirement age rules, Jiao haiping, the official with China's Ministry of Labour and Social Security (MLSS) told press Thursday.

Jiao, head of the Pensions and Insurance Department of MLSS, has been directly involved in the policy-making of old-age pensions and insurance for 23 years.

"Retirement age reform is a sensitive topic requiring prudent study," Jiao said, explaining that structural adjustments and enterprise reforms are taking place in China would make the adjustment of the retiring age premature.

"It does't mean we won't change the retirement age for ever. The decision will be made when the time is right," added Jiao.

In China, the retirement is not uniform. Men should retire at the age of 60. Professional women working for government institutions and companies are required to retire at 55. Blue-collar female workers leave work at 50.

Problems such as the comparatively low age requirement, different age requirements between men and women, and between women professionals and workers, are liable to cause conflicts are intensifying appeals for reform.

In the 28th General Assembly of the International Social Security Association held in Beijing 2004, Yang Yiyong, an official with the State Development and Reform Commission (SDRC), said that a low retirement age was not good for China.

According to Yang, deputy director of the economy research institute with SDRC, the average retirement age in China is 51.2, ten years lower than the world's average.

Government figures show that citizens aged 60 and above accountfor nearly 11 percent of the country's 1.3 billion people. The number is expected to peak in the 2030s.

The aging population and the increasing number of retirees is bringing great pressure on Chinese social security.

Hu Xiaoyi, MLSS spokesman said that in 2004, "Postponing the retirement age is one of the major steps in adjusting the pension system."

Source: Xinhua