As part of China’s broader response to an aging population and shrinking workforce, China had gradually raised the retirement age since early 2025, allowed a more flexible timing of early/delayed retirement since 2025 and now in mid-2026 further improved the legal and social protection for employees who remain working after reaching their retirement age.
Below is an overview of the most material State-level rules (as always with labor/social insurance laws, the local legislation on provincial/municipal level shall be considered as well and may deviate to some extent from the nationwide regulatory framework):
Effective from 1 January 2025, China had introduced the “Measures of the State Council on Gradually Raising the Statutory Retirement Age”, providing for a gradual increase in retirement age over 15 years: for male employees from 60 to 63 years of age, for women in white-collar roles from 55 to 58 years of age and for women in blue-collar roles from 50 to 55 years of age.
Basically, the gradual increase in the statutory retirement age primarily impacts male employees born between 1 January 1965 and 31 December 1976, as well as female employees born between 1 January 1970 and 31 December 1981 (for white-collar roles), and those born between 1 January 1975 and 31 December 1984 (for blue-collar roles).
For male employees born after 1 January 1977, the statutory retirement age will be 63 years. For female employees in white-collar roles born after 1 January 1982, the retirement age will be 58 years, and for those in blue-collar positions born after 1 January 1985, it will be 55 years.
To quickly calculate the gradually-raised statutory retirement age, the China National Social Insurance Public Platform has provided a quick calculator which can be accessed here (access from outside China may sometimes face problems).
In addition to raising the retirement age, the “Circular on the Provisional Measures for Implementing the Flexible Retirement System” China had also introduced a flexible early retirement mechanism in 2025 for employees who met the minimum contribution periods for pension claims. The period for early retirement cannot exceed three years, and the flexible retirement age cannot be lower than the original statutory retirement age, which is 50 and 55 years old for female employees, and 60 years old for male employees.
Employees who voluntarily opt for flexible early retirement must notify their employers with three months prior notice (this is a notice requirement only, in other words the employer's consent to take such early retirement is not required).
Employees who reach the statutory retirement age and who choose to have their retirement postponed must obtain a mutual agreement with the employer on such postponement with at least one-month prior notice. The maximum postponement period is three years from the statutory retirement age. Once the postponed period of retirement is confirmed, some localities in China do not allow a further (second) extension while in some localities, consecutive postponements are allowed, provided the overall period does not exceed the three-year upper limit. Employees who have postponed their statutory retirement age in accordance with the law are protected by the PRC labor and social insurance laws and regulations until they have reached their deferred retirement age.
As of 1 July 2026: New Regulatory Framework for Employees Working Beyond Retirement Age
To complement the regulatory labour legal framework for staff working beyond the retirement age (and thus losing the protection under the regular PRC labor and social insurance laws and regulations), China has now issued a new regulation specifically protecting this part of the workforce with the “Interim Provisions on the Protection of the Basic Rights and Interests of Over-Age Workers”, taking effect as of 1 July 2026.
These provisions govern PRC employers and their staff who has passed statutory retirement age, are subject to the employers’ labor management and engage in paid work for such employers. Also re-employment after early retirement falls within the scope of the new provisions. The key items of the new provisions are the following:
Written Agreement: employers and their retired staff must sign written agreements stipulating the basic rights and obligations of both parties.
Labor remuneration: the specific amount, calculation standards, payment cycles (at least monthly), payment dates, and payment method of the salaries must be defined, payments must be in cash currency and shall not be lower than the minimum wage standards.
Working time, rest and leave: employers must comply with PRC statutory working hours and holiday regulations; generally overtime should be avoided but if necessary, shall not exceed the statutory thresholds and overtime pay must be made according to regular rules.
Occupational safety and health: employers shall assign appropriate job positions and workloads according to the staff’s knowledge, skills, experience, and physical condition, and provide safety and occupational health training; hazardous occupations are prohibited for retired staff.
Work-related injury protection: employers must enrol their staff in work-injury insurance and retirement age staff suffering work-injuries or occupational diseases enjoy the full protection under work-injury protection rules.
Pension Insurance and Medical Insurance: Staff who already receives basic pension and medical insurance benefits for retired employees and who continues to work retain their full entitlement to basic pension and medical insurance benefits while they continue to work.
Staff enrolled in the basic pension and medical insurance scheme who has not accumulated the minimum contribution period by the time they reach the statutory retirement age (currently 15 years for pension insurance, gradually extended to 20 years and currently 20 years for medical insurance) have two options to proceed: either contribute to the pension and medical insurance on an individual basis or – provided the employer agrees – be enrolled in the medical and pension insurance via the employer (in which case both the employer and employee shall contribute at regular levels). Which of such two options is chosen depends entirely on what the parties agree upon; if the employer does not want to contribute for such retired employees, the employees cannot compel the employer to do so but they can then voluntarily contribute to the basic pension and medical insurance on their own.
Legal Protection: Trade unions have the right to supervise employers’ compliance with the protection of the lawful rights and interests of retirement age staff continuing to work and are entitled to demand corrective measures and may support such employees if they apply for arbitration or initiate legal proceedings. Retirement staff employees may file complaints with the locally competent labor bureaus if their employers violate the new provisions regarding overtime or remuneration. Alternatively, they may also submit disputes arising from their employment concerning labor remuneration, rest and leave, occupational safety and health, or work-injury protection, to mediation or arbitration and, if dissatisfied with the arbitral award, institute legal proceedings in a People's Court.
For staff who reached the retirement age before 1 July 2026 and continues to work beyond such date, employers should check if and if so what written agreements have been executed with such staff and if they conform to the new legal framework.
In no case (whether staff has or has not passed statutory retirement age) may employers delay payment of wages and the compensation must always comply with local minimum wage standards.
Irrespective of whether staff has or has not passed statutory retirement age, statutory overtime and working-hour limits must be complied with.
Staff before retirement (including during deferred retirement age) must be fully covered under mandatory basic social insurance and housing fund regimes by their employers; staff having passed the statutory retirement age must still be included in the work-injury insurance while other social insurance coverage is not mandatory, though voluntarily possible in various forms depending on the actual circumstances.
Employers are prohibited from coercing employees into selecting a specific retirement age or making such decisions against the employee's will; employers are not allowed to pressure employees to opt for early retirement and they are not allowed to reject employee decisions for early retirement; diligent record keeping of all communications between the employee and the employer regarding retirement age postponement / labor services is crucial to be able to demonstrate fair and equitable processing of these matters.
While flexible delayed retirement agreements require mutual consent between employers and employees, employers may still impose specific conditions on the delayed retirement, such as e.g. the employee meeting certain performance standards, etc.
If an employer does not intend to retain employees beyond the retirement age but the employee proposes continued employment, the employer is not obligated to agree to the employee's request for delayed retirement and can proceed with the retirement application formalities; if retirement application formalities cannot be completed due to the employee refusing to cooperate, the employer is not compelled to retain the employee once he reaches the mandatory retirement age.
If the employer and employee agree that the employee continues to serve the employer after reaching the regular retirement age, they shall carefully choose to either sign a flexible delayed retirement agreement to extend the retirement age, or to enter into a labor service agreement with the employee after the employee is entitled to receive pension payments; if the parties opt for a flexible delayed retirement agreement, employers must understand the following: if they intend to terminate the labor relationship with such employees during the extension period, labor termination must follow the statutory termination rules provided for in the labor laws and regulations; if they opt for a labor service agreement, the statutory labor termination reasons do not apply, but still can and must – though on more flexible terms – be stipulated in the labor service agreement.
Same rules for foreign staff in China? Generally yes but here – even more than for PRC domestic staff – local labour bureau practices shall be considered, in particular regarding the question whether foreign employees can continue to maintain/obtain work permits after reaching retirement age; for foreign staff with PRC green cards as well as for staff with Class A work permits this may be a lesser problem, for those with only Class B or C work permits, the situation may be more complex.
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