In 2007, the retired population that is covered by pension insurance hit 49.54 million, an increase of 3.19 million. These figures show the huge scale of the problems delayed retirement could create.

Qiao Shan (www.qianlong.com): Today, cities are teeming with young college graduates and migrant workers from rural areas. This is creating serious employment pressure.

According to calculations by the Beijing-based Central University of Finance and Economics, if the mandatory retirement age is raised to 65 from now on, then the number of unemployed people will increase sharply from 30 million to 40 million due to fewer vacancies from retirement.

Employment is the biggest livelihood issue. Therefore, the proposal to raise the mandatory retirement age is totally unreasonable. If the authorities have not worked out a reasonable employment scheme, extending the retirement age could be a disaster.

Hou Dongmin (The Beijing News): In the past three decades, China's farming population, instead of dropping, rose from 300 million to 500 million. Of the 500 million, 60 percent are engaged in agricultural work while the remaining 40 percent are not fully employed in secondary and tertiary sectors. At the same time, in cities, some workers are laid off in their 40s or 50s because of fierce employment competition. The real retirement age is actually lower than the legal threshold.

The Chinese economy now depends heavily on export-oriented, labor-intensive industries. In the future, protectionist measures in overseas markets, together with industrial upgrading, are likely to slow the development of these industries. It makes the future employment situation unpredictable.

When it comes to the extension of the mandatory retirement age, we must take into full consideration all related issues, including not only the pension fund deficit, but also the difficult situation facing a large number of farmers and laid-off workers, the demand for employment among new college graduates, and potential unfavorable factors that could reduce existing jobs.

As for the problem of extending the mandatory retirement age, the real situation of population and economic growth should be used as the basis for analysis. Until the problem of China's surplus labor force is really settled, please don't rush into action.

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