Jeddah: Arab News
A five-member committee is currently considering the feasibility of increasing the retirement age for employees in various sectors to 65 years, local Arabic daily Al-Madinah reported Tuesday.
The committee comprises representatives from the ministries of Higher Education, Civil Service and Finance in addition to the Public Pension Agency and the General Organization for Social Insurance (GOSI).
The daily quoted sources who said the five-member committee is studying the feasibility of increasing the retirement age for a number of government employees including judges, university staff members, medical doctors, the military and other occupations.
They said the committee is considering the modalities and mechanisms for the raising up of the pension age as some people perform better by the age of 60, when they will be more experienced.
The retirement age in the Kingdom is 60 Hijri years, which is actually 58 years in the Gregorian calendar.
The Shoura Council has agreed at the beginning of this year to increase the retirement age by two years.
Meanwhile, a study conducted by Latifa Abdul Aziz Al-Abdullatif, an associate professor of sociology at King Saud University in Riyadh, has called for extending the retirement age to between 65-70 years, especially for university staff members and employees working in health sectors. “Asking this category of people to retire at the age of 60, when they are at their prime intellectual capability, will deprive students and patients from their experiences and mental prowess,” the study read.
It considered putting such people on retirement at 60 would mean a dissipation of the resources of the country, which spent much on their education and training.
The study called for reviewing the rules and regulations of retirement to take into account the interests of the family and the nation.
Panel mulling raising retirement age to 65
