Document also calls for job-creation and measures to increase birth rate
Hong Kong, faced with an ageing population, needs to encourage people to retire later to help gain more from its workforce, the city's first consultation paper on population policy says.
The document, prepared by the Sustainable Development Council, will ask the public for the first time for its views on incentives to encourage parenthood.
The council, headed by Chief Secretary Rafael Hui Si-yan, will also consult the public on ways to create more part-time or freelance jobs for women to expand the workforce, as well as on strategies to promote a culture of work-life balance to make the city more attractive for child rearing.
The report, to be released next month, found the city's pace of ageing was faster than projections made in 2004. The proportion of elderly increased from a predicted 11.7 per cent to 12.1 per cent last year, while the percentage of children aged under 14 dropped from the estimated 14.8 to 14.5.
A council source said a decline in the labour force would bring a fall in production or even a recession, adding that raising the retirement age was one of three approaches the council suggested to expand or prolong the workforce. 'The retirement age has already been raised from 60 to 65 in Japan, and from 65 to 67 in the United States. Hong Kong may need to follow suit.'
The source said another way to maintain the size of workforce was to create more flexible job opportunities to allow more women to take up employment. At present, the female labour force participation rate stands at 51.8 per cent.
