The New Thought of Labor Insurance's Pension Benefits

Under the recent pension reform of the Labor Insurance Act in Taiwan, it is proposed by the Ministry of Labor that the old-age benefits be based on the worker's average salary over his/her highest 180 months of earnings rather than his/her highest 60 months of earnings. Extending the time length in the average salary scheme may substantially reduce retirement benefits if the insurance salary is not adjusted before taking the average. In this paper, we propose a reasonable adjustment formula for calculating the worker's average salary. Our formula has several advantages such as embedding a dynamic adjustment according to the latest national average monthly salary and improves gender equality. We discuss how to determine the long-run relationship between pension insurance premium and retirement benefits for a financially stable pension system. We also suggest how to apply the proposed benefits formula to set up a financially feasible retirement payment formula that embeds a minimum payment (Floor).