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Aussies could become world’s oldest workers

If the government raises the pension age to 70, Australian workers would become the oldest in the world.

Data from the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development has revealed that bumping up the pension age in Australia will place us well ahead of other nations, who are still in the process of moving their qualifying age to 67.

According to a report in The Age, Canada, Germany and the United States will all raise their pension ages to 67 but are not seeking to do so until at least 2022. New Zealand, which has a pension age of 65, has no plans at all to increase that figure and nor does China, which has an average pension age of 60 for men and 50-55 for women.

The UK has a planned increase of one year, from 65 to 66, but does not expect to achieve this until at least 2018. Incremental changes will occur from that point until the pension age hits 68 by 2044-2046.

On Sunday, Federal Treasurer Joe Hockey indicated that the change could soon be implemented to combat an ageing population.

“If we make it 70 by 2030, we’d certainly be in front of others who have legislated changes,” Grattan Institute chief executive John Daley told The Age. “But all that does is show that we are facing up to this problem a little earlier than others.”

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