The minister of human resources and social security -- Yin Weimin -- said during a recent G-20 ministerial meeting on labor and employment issues that China will announce a draft plan on raising the country's retirement age sometime this year.

The ministry held a press conference on Friday and a spokesman elaborated on the issue.

"From the long term, macroeconomic data suggests that we should study how to utilize our labor resources more efficiently. Nobody should be worried about employment once we raise the retirement age. Judging from China's demographic shifts, there should be more employment opportunities, instead of less, for all the people," said Li Zhong, Spokesman of Ministry of Human Resource & Social Security.

The spokesman said the ministry is planning to gradually implement the plan, and divide it into small steps. He said the progressive retirement age policy reform isn't aimed at all social groups. The policy would start by targeting those groups with earlier retirements than most.

The spokesman said raising the retirement age would put some pressure on certain groups, especially older women with limited skills. Therefore, he said, the government should give support to certain job-creating industries to solve such problems.