Retirement delay vs immigration: US academic stirs debate on China’s population crisis
Texas A&M University professor Dudley L. Poston Jnr sparks debate by saying China needs immigration to mitigate population decline
An American demographer has stirred a debate with an article arguing that China’s plans to delay its retirement age are futile, and that only a massive influx of foreign immigrants could address the nation’s demographic woes.
The move could help China mitigate the trend of an ageing and declining population, Dudley L. Poston Jnr, a professor of sociology at Texas A&M University, said in an article published earlier this month on The Conversation.
However, Chinese demographers cautioned that there is no quick fix to the complex and deep-seated challenges facing China’s massive and ageing population, and that more comprehensive strategies are needed to navigate the looming crisis.
“Raising the retirement age will not help China slow the population decline, and it will have only a marginal effect on the ratio between working adults and post-working age adults,” said Poston Jnr on the platform, which is a publisher of research-based news and analysis via a collaboration between academics and journalists.
“If an active immigration policy is not implemented, by the beginning of the next century, China will be half as large as it is today and will be one of the oldest countries – if not the oldest country – in the world.”
Without the influx of a young immigrant workforce, the problems China faces will be far worse
China’s retirement ages, which were first set about 70 years ago, stand at 60 for men, 55 for female office workers and 50 for female blue-collar workers.
However, as life expectancy has risen to 77 compared to 35 in 1949, when the People’s Republic was founded, China has been mulling over delaying retirement, to not only fully tap into its human capital, but to also alleviate pressure on the pension system.