Retirement: some Hong Kong employees dream of it, others dread it. Will introducing a statutory age make a difference?

Less educated Hongkongers with few skills want support to continue working as long as they can

Experts say fixed retirement age has pluses, but may upset bosses and those keen to stop working sooner

Reading Time:7 minutes

Published: 9:00am, 8 Jun 2023Updated: 9:50am, 8 Jun 2023

In the second of a two-part series on the work scene in Hong Kong, the Post examines the long-running debate over whether a statutory retirement age would bring more benefits than disadvantages by easing the labour shortage and helping to defuse social time bombs. Read part one on the future of office arrangements here.

Hong Kong cabby Yu Kwong-hon has not forgotten how helpless and despondent he felt when he turned 55 and had to retire from the logistics firm where he had been a fleet supervisor for 11 years.

“That was the company policy, so I had no choice. But I was penniless and at a loss, not knowing what to do next,” he said. “I still had three teenage children to raise and my wife was just a casual worker. I didn’t have other expertise and the future looked very bleak.”

Yu said he had wished to continue working, as he was still fit and capable of carrying on doing what he knew so well. He eventually became a taxi driver, a job with no retirement age that allowed him to provide for his family.

Yu Kwong-ho became a taxi driver when he was forced to retire at 55. Photo: Yik Yeung-man

“There is not much choice for older people like me, without a good education and special skills,” Yu, now 72, said. “Taxi driving is a self-employed job which guarantees an income regardless of age. The harder you work, the more you earn.”

With his children having grown up now, he works three weeks a month and earns about HK$10,000 (US$1,276).