Hosein, Dumas welcome move to raise retirement age to 65

Senior economist Roger Hosein has welcomed the Government's plan to increase the compulsory retirement age from 60 to 65.

In his contribution to the budget debate in the Senate on Friday, Attorney General Reginald Armour, SC, promised to bring a bill during this parliamentary year to effect the change.

He said the proposed Senior Citizens Pensions (Amendment) Bill is intended to "update and modernise the senior citizens pension scheme and to complement the proposed increase in the age of retirement from 60 to 65 giving our very knowledgeable and experienced senior citizens the opportunity to continue to contribute to our society."

The plan to increase the retirement age has been on the drawing board for some time, largely in light of repeated auditor's reports from the National Insurance Board which pointed to a shrinking pool of contributions alongside more claimants.

Minister in the Ministry of Finance Brian Manning, in advancing the Government's position, met within the past few months with representatives of various chambers of commerce and several trade unions, including the Public Services Association, Banking, Insurance and General Workers' Union, National Union of Government and Federated Workers' Union, Prisons Officers' Association and the Fire Services Association.

After Manning's meeting with BIGWU, the union called for widespread consultation.

In a release dated May 12, the union said, "Any proposed extension if the nation's retirement age in Trinidad and Tobago from 60 to 65 must be subject to wide consultation with the trade union federation and other stakeholders before any attempt to implement by Government."

The union urged the minister and the NIB to ensure that the widest possible consultation is held on this "sensitive matter." It further advised that many of its members were opposed to the arrangement, which would see a change in the access to full national insurance benefits at the customary retirement age of 60. The union said the proposal would see a reduction in NIS benefits to people under 65. It added citizens needed to be made aware of the implications of the move "as it would create a further financial burden on the citizenry."

But speaking to Sunday Newsday, Hosein hailed the proposed plan as a step in the right direction. "I am of the view that an increase in the retirement age from 60 to 65 is a welcomed development for Trinidad and Tobago as we navigate the next 50 years of our economic development," he said.

In the first instance, Hosein said the country's labour force participation rate has been on the decline since 2004. "In fact, the labour force participation rate has moved from 63.4 per cent in 2004 down to 54 per cent. That is a significant decrease."

Hosein said the country's labour force participation rate is one of the lowest in the region. Haiti and Guyana's labour force participation rate may be lower than TT's, he believes. "So that is something the government has to look at closely." He said the labour force participation rate in the Bahamas stands at 68 per cent.

Hosein said TT also has an ageing labour force. Citing statistics from the Central Statistical Office for the first quarter of 2022, Hosein said, "If one were to look at the data, the labour force decreased from about 658,600 in 2014 to 604,000 today. That is a significant drop in the labour force. In that regard, the move is a welcomed move."

He said increasing the retirement age would also bring into play a greater degree of institutional memory in the system. Hosein believes senior employees currently in the workforce will be able to contribute at a higher level for a longer period. "That is critical."

The downside to the plan, he pointed out, is that young people will have to wait longer, in some cases, to get into the job market. But this would provide an opportunity for them to improve their "educational profile and stock." He said the Government Assistance for Tuition Expenses (Gate) programme can play a crucial role in this regard.

Saying the country's economy needs to be put on a pathway of growth, Hosein noted that TT was ranked among the top ten worst performing economies in terms of average annual real GDP growth for the period 2016 to 2021. He said a drastic amount of work was needed to forge a turnaround.

Hosein said the focus must be on creating opportunities for decent, sustainable jobs for citizens. "Not CEPEP or jobs at the KFC counter but long term, sustainable jobs."

Retired head of the public service Reginald Dumas also welcomed the plan for the simple reason that "people in the old days did not live as long as they do now."

"So a person of 60, 50 years ago was considered old and you found that when a public servant retires at age 60, the person was dead by 63 or 64. Now a lot of people are living until 100 years and more," he said.

Dumas attributed the trend to advancements in healthcare and delivery. So, therefore they are able to live longer."

He noted the compulsory retirement age in many developed countries is already 65. "So what we have been doing is cutting our own throat. We are told at 60 you have to go home because you are old but someone in the United States is working to age 65 because he is not considered old."

While there may be more anxieties in the society when compared to years gone by, Dumas said in terms of physical and mental health, "a person of 60 is no longer the kind of person we had 50 years ago."

Dumas also suggested that a programme of successorship be implemented in establishments if the plan becomes a reality.

"It is not only a question of getting to 65 and retiring. You should be passing on your knowledge to people coming up. There should be programmes for people to pass on information so that when someone is promoted at 45 or 50 that person is not going to start from scratch but with some form of background knowledge of the particular job that you have passed on. That is of great benefit to the society as a whole because you get away from the stop start thing all the time."

Seamen and Waterfront Workers' Trade Union president general Michael Annisette said many daily-rated workers are already retiring at age 65.

"So the move would more or less affect monthly-paid workers who are retiring at 60," he told Sunday Newsday.

"So I am of the view that that is something that has to be negotiated and then the disadvantages to the worker must be placed on the table before any decision is made relative to that."

Annisette noted the NUGFW has been fighting to get the retirement age of its daily-rated members to 65 for the past ten years. However, he claimed there has been "an unwillingness and neglect by the government for the last ten years to address that particular matter."

"In that context, this move by the Government is rather strange and contradictory."