TL;DR – The purpose of raising the retirement age and re-employment age is to help our older workers continue working if they wish to.
Good news for older Singaporeans who wish to continue working: The retirement and re-employment ages for Singapore workers will be progressively raised to 65 and 70 years old respectively under the law.
From July 1 next year, the retirement age will be raised to 63, while the re-employment age will be raised to 68.
These changes will better prepare Singaporeans for retirement, said Manpower Minister Tan See Leng told Parliament on Monday (Nov 1), when speaking at the start of the debate on changes to the Retirement and Re-Employment Act and the Central Provident Fund (CPF) Act.
In case you didn’t know, in 2019, a tripartite workgroup comprising the government, employer, and union was set up to look into the concerns of older workers and how to protect their interests as the resident workforce ages.
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At that time, the workgroup presented a report with 22 recommendations which include raising the retirement and re-employment ages to help our older workers continue working if they wish to, in a step-by-step process.
Hence, with this new law, employers will not be able to terminate an employee on grounds of age before the statutory retirement age. This will allow workers to have the assurance of continued employment up till the statutory re-employment age if they are able and wish to do so, said the manpower minister.
“At the same time, businesses have sufficient flexibility to adjust re-employment terms, enabling them to continue providing employment opportunities to our senior workers while remaining competitive.”
According to Dr Tan, the public sector has taken the lead from July 1 this year, encouraging firms to also raise the retirement and re-employment ages ahead of the timeline.
So, if you are still one of those Singaporeans who believe that extending the retirement and reemployment ages means the older workers have to work till they die, please read this:
The purpose of raising the retirement age and re-employment age is to help our older workers continue working if they wish to.
Make sure you read the above at least three times and let that sink in.
Heng Chee How reminds us not to forget older workers as as we co-create the future