In Samoa’s Parliament, there’s a discussion about raising the retirement age to help deal with a shortage of teachers and doctors.
Aliimalemanu Alofa Tuuau, a Member of Parliament representing Alataua Sisifo, suggested this change during a session on Tuesday.
Right now, in Samoa, the retirement age is 55 for people who work and get paid. When people turn 65, they can get a monthly government pension of SAT200 (which is about NZ$117), regardless of whether they’ve worked for pay or not.
During a talk in Parliament about the Ministry of Justice Courts and Administration’s yearly report, Aliimalemanu pointed out that judges retire at 68 years old. She thinks that since there aren’t many workers, especially teachers and doctors, Samoa’s Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata’afa and the government should think about raising the retirement age to 70.
This isn’t the first time this idea has come up. In 2019, Parliament agreed to raise the retirement age for judges to 68 years.
Data from the World Health Organization shows that, on average, people in Samoa live to be 70.
Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, the leader of the opposition, briefly mentioned a suggestion from a past Chief Justice to increase judges’ retirement age. He said this was because there weren’t enough judges to handle cases.
[original text by RNZ]
