With the country fast approaching an ageing society, raising the retirement age for civil servants was unavoidable for the Thai government.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha's cabinet finally approved a regulation extending the retirement age from the current compulsory 60 for all civil servants who reach that age in the next fiscal year. The exact age extension is still being debated but previous studies by the now-defunct National Reform Steering Committee overseeing social issues and the Office of the Civil Service Commission (OCSC) suggested a new retirement age of 63 with implementation coming in phases.
According to the National Statistical Office, Thailand will be a fully fledged ageing society in 2021, with 20% of the population aged over 60. Currently, there are 13 million people aged over 60 in the country. Concerns over a workforce shortfall as a result of the demographic imbalance were a major reason for the extension proposal. It is in line with a new trend where businesses are openly trying to recruit people aged over 60.
Many will see the cabinet decision to raise the retirement age as proactive. A number of studies also suggest increasing the retirement age to 65 is possible if employers attach importance to teaching new skills.
The OCSC will be obliged to amend a few laws, especially those on pensions and benefits, to match the new age limit when it is decided.
Moreover, in order to minimise the impact on new recruitments as well as regular promotion processes, raising the retirement age will be limited to positions involving academic or technical fields, not those at the top of the administrative hierarchy. It remains unclear how this will be translated into practice as the process will be conducted step by step with the full effect apparent in six years.
As the state is moving at full speed to deal with the labour shortage, it must also be aware that there is a pressing need to make state services leaner but also increase their efficiency.
At 340,800 strong, the civil service is considered too bulky and most of the time state officials are occupied in augmenting bureaucratic red-tape, which is hardly avoidable when most, if not all, decisions are centralised. Under such circumstances, lack of efficiency is an issue for several state agencies, while the salaries of government officials take a big chunk out of the national budget.
It is well known that bureaucratic reform pushed more than a decade ago by then prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra was only half-hearted, if not a farce.
It's high time the OCSC confronts the issue. Before the new compulsory retirement age fully takes effect, it must see to it that the civil service is downsized while incompetent officers are weeded out. This requires serious appraisal and evaluations of those in civil service in order for the system to keep those with ability.
To begin with, the OCSC must ensure that the new retirement age is not automatically applied to every official. On the contrary, only those who demonstrate ability should be kept on with all the appraisal processes conducted straightforwardly.
