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Sunday, February 24, 2019

Brazil: President Proposes Pension Reform, Including Raising Retirement Age

According to news sources, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonar's proposals for amending the constitution for pension reform include setting minimum retirement ages for women at 62 and for men at 65, and the number of years workers would have to contribute to the system from 15 to 20. In addition, the "proposal would eliminate an option to retire based only on the number of years workers contributed to the pension system, which currently lets women retire after 30 years of contributions and men after 35 years, regardless of their age."

The new rules would phase in over 12 to 14 years.

Source: Wall St. Journal "Brazil’s President Submits Proposal to Overhaul Pension System Brazil’s President Submits Pension-Reform Plan, in a Key Test" (February 21, 2019); The Economist "Jair Bolsonaro tackles Brazil’s pensions problem" (February 21, 2019); Bloomberg "Brazil Still Short of Votes for Key Pension Reform Bill, VP Says" (February 19, 2019); The Brazilian Report "Brazil's long-awaited pension reform proposal explained" (February 20, 2019)

Saturday, February 23, 2019

South Korea: Supreme Court Raises Retirement Age for Physical Labor

The South Korea Supreme Court has issued a ruling that the maximum age a person can perform physical labor is 65, breaking a nearly 30-year precedent which set the retirement age at 60 in 1989. The court cited changes in key socioeconomic factors such as the increased average lifespan.

As Lee Suh-yoon notes in The Korea Times:
As the age limit is applied when calculating lost income in compensation cases on the premise that the person would have engaged in manual labor, the ruling is likely to affect the age limits for white-collar professions, which have already been varied, such as 65 for doctors and writers and 70 for lawyers or pastors.

The insurance industry is affected the most directly, because in car insurance, compensation is calculated with the age set at 60. If the age is pushed up to 65, the compensation amount would increase.

Sources: Chosun "Supreme Court Puts Retirement Age at 65" (Februarg 22, 2019); The Korea Times "Ruling on physical labor age limit to have huge ripple effects" (February 22, 2019); The Korea Times New maximum working age" (February 22. 2019)