How is the retirement age of workers in 2024 calculated?

Specifically, according to Article 169 of the 2019 Labor Code, employees who ensure the conditions on social insurance payment period according to the provisions of the law on Social Insurance (SI) are entitled to receive pension when reaching retirement age.

According to Clause 2, Article 4 of Decree 135/2020/ND-CP of the Government, the retirement age of employees in normal working conditions from 2021 will be determined as follows:

The retirement age will be increased according to the roadmap from 2021, the retirement age of workers in normal working conditions is 60 years and 3 months for male workers and 55 years and 4 months for female workers. After that, each year it will increase by 3 months for male workers and 4 months for female workers.

In 2024, male workers will be 61 years old and female workers will be 56 years and 4 months old. According to this increase roadmap, from 2028 onwards, the retirement age for male workers will be 62 years old, and from 2035 onwards, the retirement age for women will be 60 years old.

Who is eligible for early retirement?

Workers with reduced working capacity; working in particularly arduous, toxic, or dangerous occupations or jobs; working in areas with particularly difficult socio-economic conditions may retire at a lower age, but not more than 5 years older than the prescribed age at the time of retirement, unless otherwise provided by law.

Workers with high professional and technical qualifications and some special cases may retire at a higher age but not more than 5 years older than the prescribed age at the time of retirement, unless otherwise provided by law.

Employees in the following cases may retire at a lower age but not more than 5 years older than the retirement age under normal working conditions at the time of retirement, unless otherwise provided by law.

Employees who have worked for 15 years or more in arduous, toxic, dangerous or especially arduous, toxic, dangerous jobs on the list issued by the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs.

Employees who have worked for 15 years or more in areas with particularly difficult socio-economic conditions, including working time in areas with regional allowance coefficient of 0.7 or higher before January 1, 2021.

Workers with a working capacity reduction of 61% or more.

Employees with a total working time of arduous, toxic, dangerous or especially arduous, toxic, dangerous jobs on the list issued by the Ministry of Labor - Invalids and Social Affairs and working time in areas with especially difficult socio-economic conditions, including working time in areas with regional allowance coefficient of 0.7 or higher before January 1, 2021, of 15 years or more.

The lowest retirement age for workers from 2024 in one of the above cases is 56 years old for men and 51 years and 4 months for women. According to the roadmap, the retirement age for men will increase by 3 months each year and 4 months for women. From 2028 onwards, the retirement age for men will be 57 years old; for women, it will increase by 4 months each year, and from 2035 onwards, the retirement age will be 55 years old.

Reasons for the difference in retirement age between men and women

In the draft revised Social Insurance Law submitted to the National Assembly recently, the Government proposed reducing the number of years of social insurance contributions from 20 to 15 years, moving towards a 10-year roadmap to expand coverage in the new context of 38% of the working-age workforce participating in the social security net.

According to the draft law, the pension for workers retiring under normal conditions is equal to 45% of the average salary used to calculate social insurance contributions, corresponding to 20 years of insurance contributions for male workers and 15 years for female workers. After that, for each additional year of contributions, the pension is increased by 2%.

Male workers with 15 years of social insurance enjoy a minimum rate of 33.75% and need to pay for 35 years to receive a maximum pension of 75%. Men who have paid for 15 years but less than 20 years will receive an additional 2.25% each year. Female workers who have paid for 15 years enjoy a minimum pension of 45% and need to pay for 30 years to reach the maximum of 75%.

Taking the same 15-year minimum social insurance contribution milestone, the pension accumulation rate for men is 11.25% lower than that of women.

The representative of the drafting agency said that the calculation method and social insurance benefit rate inherit all current regulations, without focusing on changing the benefit formula.

The 2006 Social Insurance Law stipulated a minimum contribution period of 15 years for both men and women to receive 45%. The 2014 amendment gradually increased the minimum contribution period for men to 20 years and for women to maintain 15 years to receive the above rate.

The draft law proposes to reduce the social insurance payment period to 15 years to receive pension. If the payment years are reduced but the old calculation method is kept, there will be a difference in the pension rates for men and women.