Review of Singapore's retirement age imminent

Manpower Minister Josephine Teo announces a new initiative to analyse and support the needs of older workers

BY Nurhuda Syed 31 May 2018

To address the needs of Singapore’s growing ageing population, the Ministry of Manpower announced a new initiative to tackle concerns faced by older workers.

A new tripartite workgroup will be established to study what makes older workers feel valued as well as whether enough is done to help workers meet their retirement needs.

The workgroup will also look into the following focus areas:

review the retirement and re-employment age
examine Central Provident Fund (CPF) contribution rates for older workers

Announced by minister Josephine Teo at the ministry’s annual workplan seminar, Teo said Singapore is facing a “demographic disruption” of an ageing population with a shrinking working-age population.

“Should we continue to assume that most people do not work beyond age 64?” Teo said.

“In fact, Ng Chee Meng asked a good question recently. Why should there be an expiry age for people’s desire or willingness to work?

“If so many countries will have older populations, how can we turn this into a competitive edge for our economy and society?”

The workgroup will be chaired by permanent secretary for manpower Aubeck Kam. Other advisors include National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) chief Ng Chee Meng, Singapore National Employers Federation’s president Robert Yap and minister Teo herself.