With population ageing and socio-economic development under way, reform of the retirement system has become one of the hottest topics around the globe. Traditionally, retirement is often referred to stoppage of labour and the eligibility to receive the accrued pension. From the perspective of social gerontology, retirement has at least two functions in an industrial society based on waged labours: 1) to recognise and reward employees’ past efforts, and 2) to remove older workers from the system to create more job opportunities for their younger counterparts. However, changes in the work patterns as well as the structural reform of the old-age security system make the strict distinction between work and retirement blurred. Longer life expectancy means that more elderly will live more than 20 years after retirement, who are healthy and willing to continue working. In addition, facing problems such as diminishing manpower supply, widening pension fund gap, and decreasing financial pressure, there are growing calls for retirement reform internationally.
Cao, T. (2015). Optional retirement: Experiences in Asia-Pacific region to solve HR challenges. Asia Pacific Institute of Ageing Studies Newsletter, 6, 14. Retrieved from http://commons.ln.edu.hk/apias_nlj/vol6/iss1/19/