Malaysia Raises Retirement Age To 58 Years

It’s now confirmed that the retirement age for the public sector employees in Malaysia is now 58 years. It was initially thought that the retirement age was to be raised to 60 from 56 previously.

As a direct result of better lifestyles and health care, Malaysians now live longer than ever and may live for about 20 years post retirement. Given their limited savings, most of them will need to find alternative jobs or do some part time work for at least a few more years after retirement to make up for their insufficient pensions and savings.

The increase in retirement age by another two years will thus help lessen the burden of these retirees as they are assured of another two years of gainful employment to add to their saving while at the same time help reduce their retirement years by the same amount.

Notwithstanding whether it is 58 or 60 years, the upward adjustment in retirement age is a natural progression for countries with lower retirement age as the case is in Malaysia - to be more in norm with the world’s practice. The standard retirement age for most countries in the world is 60 years.