Thai Cabinet to be asked to extend retirement age of govt officials from 60 to 65

[webfact]

Cabinet to be asked to extend retirement age of government officials from 60 to 65



BANGKOK: -- The Office of Civil Service Commission is expected to propose to the cabinet next month a bill to amend the Pension Act which will extend the retirement age of government officials by five more years from 60 to 65.

This will be the first time that the Pension Act which has been enforced since 1952 will be amended, according to an informed government source.

The extension of the retirement age will help ease the government’s financial burden to take care of retired government officials which include pensions and medical bills for the retirees.

There are about 1.7 million government pensioners and, on top of that, 30,000 officials retire each year.

Also, the extension of the retirement age will ease the problem of manpower shortage, especially experienced officials, due to increasingly lower birth rate as Thailand is approaching ageing society.

It was reported that the Finance Ministry would propose the cabinet at a meeting on Tuesday to extend tax reduction for tourism-related spendings such as food and domestic tourism spending not more than 15,000 baht during the Songkran festival.

Also, the Finance Ministry will propose the cabinet to restructure personal income tax to increase more deductions so the taxpayers will have more take-home pay.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/content/157157


-- Thai PBS 2016-03-29

[shirtless]

It will soon go to 70

[taony]

Should be reduced by 15.

[Caveat Emptor]

An obvious move to retain experience and efficiency.

[Jimbo2014]

They could retain them when they are dead and it probably wouldnt make any difference

[Khon Kaen Dave]

5 more years on the gravy train????

[sawadee1947]

Five years more for filling their own pockets

[trainman34014]

All Civil Servants in Thailand have the right of retirement after 25 years service...the minimum requirement for pension and free medical care. Nobody at the moment is forced to work until they are 60. Of course; that could also be changed in the future.

[zig]

If only 30,000 retire per year, how did the number reach 1.7 Million?

[billd766]

It actually doesn't fix the problem but pushes it 5 years further along the way.

What it really means that if they keep the existing staff another 5 years their pensions will cost more to pay and there will be very few slots for new recruits so for 5 years qualified uni graduates will not be able to get a job and be stuck in the market place with no work.

That makes sense to me, not.

[Dap]

I'm curious to know the age of whoever is proposing this

[phoenixdoglover]

It is a good idea. Life expectancy in Thailand is decent. Age 65 is reasonable as a mandatory retirement age. The change will reduce long term pension and healthcare obligations.

However, there should also be discussion about the size of the civil government, police and military. Is it bloated?

[jerojero]

Yep. Keep the old cronies in government another 5 years. That ought to help progressive change in the Country.

[JGV]

Great new for graduates looking to avoid unemployment

They can ask their grandparents for pocket money

[chowny77]

I say give them the choice. When they are reaching 60 they could work a year by year contract, when they feel they have had enough they can opt out of work. Also they could be used to help train the new workers. So of instead of being in an actual work environment they work for a few hours per day on training schemes at colleges. They maybe old but they managed to keep their jobs for 25+yrs, they must have something they can contribute. Not all Thai's are skimming money from the top, there are some real honest, hard working people too.