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  3. Debate about the policy to raise the retirement age of Chinese workers has b

Debate about the policy to raise the retirement age of Chinese workers has b

游客2023-11-26  17
问题     Debate about the policy to raise the retirement age of Chinese workers has been raging in China for the past few years. The compulsory retirement age in China is now 60 for male, 55 for female white-collar workers and 50 for female manual laborers. The following excerpts offer opinions from different channels about this issue. Read the excerpts carefully and write your response in about 300 words, in which you should:
    1. summarize briefly the opinions from every side:
    2. give your comment.
    Marks will be awarded for content relevance, content sufficiency, organization and language quality. Failure to follow the above instructions may result in a loss of marks.
    The media
    Beijing Times: Even if authorities bind older people to their positions by raising the retirement age, these workers might not contribute much to the overall productivity: worse still, there might not be sufficient jobs for young people to enter the job market because older people are still working. That’s a possible negative result of delaying the retirement age, and policymakers need to be alert to it.
    Beijing Youth Daily: The ministry said Chinese workers retire at a quite early age. What they haven’t told us is Chinese people’s average life expectancy is low compared with developed countries. Japanese males retire five years later than Chinese males but they live about eight years longer. Therefore it is not fair for Chinese workers to retire at the same age as their counterparts in developed economies.
    The general public
    Satsu from Japan: In Japan people who officially retire at the age of 60 can still work for several years(until 65) for half or less of their last salary because the retirement allowance is not enough for a decent life after work. The official state pension sets in at the age of 65(probably soon 67) only.
    Eudaimonia from Greece: I think that it should be relevant to the type of work that the person is doing and the average life expectancy in the country. What this means? This means that, for example:
    —If somebody works in very poor working conditions, he should get early retirement.
    —There’s absolutely no reason for women to retire earlier than men: if anything, it should be the other way around since women live longer.
    Tigerfish from the UK: We’ve done it in the UK too, but the problem is that we still have a huge youth unemployment problem. Employers are not taking on the new graduates and school leavers, so they just hang around on the streets and cause problems and manual workers are just not fit enough to keep going, and end up needing more medical help.
    Vivian from China: The retirement age should be left as it is. If people want to retire earlier they should be encouraged to do so. The whole idea is to give young people a chance to fill these positions and get a start in life.
    Icwu from France: Delaying the retirement age to 65 for men and 60 for women makes sense. However, it’s even better if it’s coupled with delaying job entry for youths by 1 - 2 years by introducing military training or community service(like the peace corps practice in the US in the past) or non-paid apprentice training(like that practiced in Germany) for our youths. These options will not only benefit our youths but also solve many employment problems as a result of delayed retirement.
    Laowai2 from the US: The same thing is happening in most countries with a welfare system. People are living longer, so they require pensions for more years. In China’s case, women are probably receiving pensions for over 20 years. Although people pay into a pension fund, this does not cover their future pensions. Pensions are financed out of current taxation, so it is our children who will actually fund our pensions.
    Write your response on ANSWER SHEET FOUR.
选项
答案                     Should We Raise the Retirement Age?
    Recent debates on the extended retirement age of Chinese workers rage over the mass media. Supporters say that it brings a decent retirement allowance and sufficient funds for retirement pension which is already in deficit. Opponents view this policy as a threat to employment opportunities for the younger generation and predict low productivity of aged workers. A compromising idea is that the policy should be coupled with some other ones such as delay in job entry and equal requirement for both men and women and consideration of the job type.
    Imagine this: a group of silver-haired workers drag their exhausted bodies on their way home after a day’s work while young people in droves monkey around with nothing to do in the bright daylight. Ironic as this picture might appear, it speaks true of the situation we will face when the policy of extended retirement age is imposed.
    Delaying the retirement age may have disastrous effects both on the old and the young. On the one hand, it would be unfair for workers over sixty to have a long extension of five years’ work ahead after a whole life’s dedication to their work, let alone their physical fatigue may greatly decrease productivity. On the other hand, if workplaces were riddled with these willing or unwilling senior workers, what vacancies could be left for the new graduates? With a limited market, the larger the working population of the old, the smaller chances there will be for the young. More than a job issue, unemployment will in time snowball into more serious social unrest.
    All in all, the initiative of raising retirement age might be to compensate the deficit in retirement pension. However, more rational ways rather than the scheme on retirement age should be taken into consideration. If imposed without any backup plans, this policy is doomed to end up with not a bang but a whisper.
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