Govt.: Considering Revising Retirement Age
Justice Minister Athauda Seneviratne says the country would have to extend the retirement age due to the emerging ageing population.
Seneviartne told parliament yesterday (9) during the debate on the National Institute of Labour Studies Bill that Sri Lanka would have an increased ageing population in a few years time.
He added that Sri Lanka’s labour population is decreasing as a result of low birth rate, which had declined to 1.1 percent during recent times.
“We will not be able to allow those who reach the age of 60 to retire any more,” he said.
Elder brother got his extension.But other brothers also need to extend their terms as well.This is what they really need.Good to go my friend.
Even if your prefered political party takes over the control of the country, this is something that needs doing. The returement age 55 was decided in 1950′s. Since then, the world’s moved on, even the man (apparently) has landed on the moon. People need to look beyond their chosen political party!
What about young generation’s future ? Are they have to depend on abroad for job purpose?
There will always be jobs. In 1940′s only a handful jobs were around compared to today. Increasing the age of retirement is something everybidy in the world is talking about. Eventually, we will have to do it as well. But the government will have to find a better person to take the message to the masses than selfish ministers like Athauda who have no real interest in the society but themselves and their weird politics to con people.
Its a very good move minister. Old is gold. Good to have old hands who have experience and thorough knoeldge of the job they are doing, unlike the present day youngsters who is not bothred to learn but to look at the watch to run away at the end of the day. Coutries like US and Canada can’t be wrong to have the retirement age as 65.
It would be a great mistake to increase the retirement age to 65 in Sri Lanka just because it is so in America. These are two different economies with too many disparities for comparison. The average life span of Sri lankan working men and women are shorter than their counterparts in America. In the U.S. the public and private sector pension schemes are centralized under the U.S. Social Security Administration, whereas in Srilanka the private sector does not provide a monthly pension check to the Sri Lankan retirees like in the US. A private sector employee in Sri Lanka receives only a one time provident fund lump sum. Before you consider the retirement age increase, you should have a pension plan to provide a monthly income for private sector employees during their retirement years. You cannot be a cart before the horse in your quest to follow the west. Shaul Nizar
The problem here runs deeper than one sees on the surface. All our young brains are leaving this country for greener pastures. 26 of the 42 who studied with me in one class at school are now in Australia/Canada/ USA and England. Most parents I speak to at Parent /Teacher meetings in School have no intention of keeping their children here after their A/L but are looking to send them abroad. The overall opinion here is that there is a better future for them overseas than in Sri Lanka.
It is not that these people do not love Sri Lanka, it is with great sadness that these children are sent overseas with much heartbreak for both Children and parents.
Companies in this country pay pittance to their employees and most often at clerical level and below the take home is well below Rs. 10,000 per month. Can even a single person without any family commitments survive on less than 10,000 a month most often their take home salaries cannot even take them home.
With high taxes (Companies are taxes almost 65% of their profits here) and daily escalating cost of inputs such as Fuel, Electricity, Water costs which per unit are the highest in the world only long established companies with reserves and nil borrowings are continuing to survive.
Sri lanka’s banking sector is the most profitable sector in Sri Lanka but the most borrower un-friendly business sector in the world. Try getting a O/D facility or a borrowing facility from any bank , not only are you charged double the interest they pay depositors but they demand double the value of the loan as collateral and also act as if they are doing YOU a favor.
So to all the policy makers of this country including that Lapdog Humbug at the central Bank the issue here is not the ageing population but the screwed up policies of a government lacking the knowledge, Foresight, the inability to get their act together to make this an Investment friendly country. There are more companies closing today than those been established, the opportunities and prospects for the Educated are are diminishing daily and all the policy makers of this country are concerned about is how to win the next election by hook or by crook. Increasing the retirement age to even 100 is not going to solve this problem without finding solutions to the real issues.
In 1950’s the average age expectancy of a male in Sri Lanka is somewhere 62yrs or so, 64 for a woman. Now in 2010 it is about 69yrs for a man and even more for a woman. That mean if you retire from 55, you have to live another 15yers or so without a decent income (except few lucky ones with a good pension). Therefore with the increasing life expectancy we have to raise this retirement age limit – no other way around. Otherwise the younger generation have to earn for this aging population. Which also unfair for both.
I agree that the retirement age for all and perticularly for the Government servents will have to be increased if the state finances are to be viable into the future. This also reduces the employment opportunities for the younger generations. To overcome this problem Sri Lanka has to accelarate its development to over 8% of GDP(like India and China) for the forseable future. This is a huge challenge!
This proposals are for the benefit of the current govt. personnels. As this will be first implemented to the Govt. Snr. Ministers and Dy.Ministers etc etc by the time the law reach the normal cvilian it will be too late.
Only the Politicions in our country dont need any Qualification,Retire age because they have to govern the country.