May 2021

China. Shanghai raising residents’ old age pensions

Shanghai is raising old age pensions, the city’s Human Resources and Social Security Bureau announced on Tuesday. Retirees covered by the social security fund for employees will get a 3 percent increase in their monthly pension from last year and an additional 70 yuan (US$10.8) a month. Women over 60 and men over 65 will get an extra 20 yuan a month per person. People included in city residents' basic pension scheme will have their pensions increased by 100 yuan to...

US. In Reversal, Retirements Increased During the Pandemic

After decades in which it decreased, the retirement rate rose during the pandemic, according to the latest government data. This makes retirement one exception to the many ways that the pandemic accelerated pre-existing trends, such as toward suburbanization and online shopping. In the year since the pandemic started — the 12 months ending in March 2021 — 17.0 percent of Americans aged 55 to 64 were retired, up from 16.8 percent in the two previous years. But this is still...

Why China and east Asia’s ageing population threatens global Covid recovery

For many years China watchers have been concerned that its ageing population will slow economic growth, causing social as well as political problems. So today’s census data may be an alarm bell for leaders in Beijing. But it is not just China that is witnessing this trajectory. Most countries in east Asia, even without fertility control policies such as China’s one-child or two-child policies, share the same predicament: how to continue economic growth while encouraging people to have more children? This...

April 2021

A Graying China May Have to Put Off Retirement. Workers Aren’t Happy.

For Meng Shan, a 48-year-old urban management worker in the Chinese city of Nanchang, retirement can’t come soon enough. Read also Multi-pillar pension systems can help EU address the ageing of European societies Mr. Meng, who is the equivalent of a low-level, unarmed law-enforcement official, often has to chase down unlicensed street vendors, a task he finds physically and emotionally taxing. Pay is low. Retirement, even on a meager government pension, would finally offer a break. Read also Morneau Shepell releases the...

Multi-pillar pension systems can help EU address the ageing of European societies

Multi-pillar pension systems can help EU address the ageing of European societies Insurance Europe has today published its response to a consultation conducted by the European Commission on its green paper on ageing. Insurance Europe's contribution focuses specifically on the questions pertaining to pensions and long-term care, given the extensive expertise that insurers have in these areas. On pensions, the industry welcomes the Commission's efforts to boost adequacy in retirement income across Europe, as demographic changes are increasingly putting statutory pension...

China’s Coming Pro-Natalist Campaign

Birth rates in China are crashing. Last year, they fell to the lowest level since Mao Zedong founded the modern Chinese state in 1949. This poses immense long-term challenges for everything from pensions to labor markets. Beijing’s leaders realize this. This is why China’s notorious “one-child policy” was loosened nationwide to a two-child one back in 2015. Read also Asia Is Increasing Its ESG Asset Appetite But the next step will be far more dramatic. After decades of attempting to limit births,...

Involuntary unemployment in overlapping generations model due to instability of the economy and fiscal policy

By Yasuhito Tanaka The existence of involuntary unemployment advocated by J. M. Keynes is a very important problem of the modern economic theory. Using a three-generations overlapping generations model, we show that the existence of involuntary unemployment is due to the instability of the economy. Instability of the economy is the instability of the difference equation about the equilibrium price around the full-employment equilibrium, which means that a fall in the nominal wage rate caused by the presence of involuntary...

Competing on customization: Fintech’s future in retirement planning

For decades, Americans thought about retirement planning in terms of a three-legged stool: Social Security, an employment-based pension and personal savings. However, all three legs of this stool are folding under the pressure of change. Social Security is forecast to run out of funds by 2035, company pensions (as well as full-time employment itself) are in decline, and millions are facing a squeeze on savings. People planning for their retirement are looking for fresh advice to help guarantee long-term financial...

March 2021

Thailand plans new retirement plan to support its aging population

Thailand aims to create a new retirement program to support an aging population that will add about 1 million new retirees annually starting in 2023. Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha wants to ensure that Thais can receive income upon retirement, government spokeswoman Rachada Dhnadirek said Tuesday, after the cabinet approved in principle a new national retirement plan. The program will be mandatory for all employees who aren't participating in other retirement plans, she said. Read also South African retirement fund guidelines are...

Many over-55s could be heading for retirement income shortfall, says survey

Many over-55s who are approaching retirement risk exhausting their pension savings early, a survey suggests. A quarter (25%) of those aged 55 to 64 who are still working said they were only budgeting for their retirement income to last 10 years or less, Standard Life found. One in eight (12%) are planning for their retirement income to support them for just one to five years. Three in 10 (29%) over-55s expect to need the same amount of cash each year throughout their...