Employment for Senior Citizens

Ms Tin Pei Ling asked the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Manpower given the recent findings that jobless Singaporeans aged 50 and above stayed unemployed for longer periods (a) what is being done to help and encourage these workers in securing jobs; and (b) since 2009, how many Singaporeans aged 50 and above have approached the CDCs for employment assistance and what is the success rate of job matches for these older Singaporeans.

Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam: Job seekers or workers who require employment assistance can approach WDA's career centres at the five CDCs or the Employment and Employability Institute (e2i). Since 2009, there have been about 37,000 cases of Singaporeans aged 50 and above who sought employment assistance.

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In 2010, 55% of older job seekers were placed in jobs. Those who are not placed continue to receive assistance from the career centres and e2i, such as further coaching and referrals to additional training to improve their chances of landing a job.

To put these figures in perspective, it should be noted that the unemployment rate amongst Singaporean workers above 50 remains low. It was only 2.7% in 2010, in fact a little lower than the overall unemployment rate of 3.4% then. Nevertheless, older workers who are out of a job tend to face greater difficulties in getting back into the workplace. The common difficulties faced include insufficient literacy and numeric skills, a lack of relevant skills and mismatches in expectations.

To help our older workers, we have been working closely with our tripartite partners to expand their employment opportunities and improve their employability. This involves introducing new legislation, training and re-training, job re-design, workplace improvements as well as changing the mindsets of both employers and employees.

At the broadest level, we have taken steps to ensure that our workers have the opportunity to work for as long as they can and want to. The Retirement and Re-employment Act will take effect in January next year, enabling more people to continue working beyond the current statutory retirement age of 62. Although the law will only come into effect next year, our recent survey shows that more employers are willing to re-employ eligible workers. The proportion of private establishments that allowed their local employees to work past 62 increased significantly from 64% in 2009 to 77% in 2010. The Public Service is also playing its part. Over the last two years (2009 – 2010), 1,400 officers (eight in 10 retiring officers) were offered re-employment and 83% accepted.

Besides legislation, we have put in place several schemes to encourage companies to employ older workers. This includes the ADVANTAGE! Scheme 2 introduced in 2005, which provides a grant to help companies recruit and retain older workers. This year, the Government introduced a one-off Special Employment Credit (SEC) scheme to raise the employability of older, low-wage Singaporeans. These efforts have helped to expand the employment opportunities for older workers.

Apart from these assistance programmes, we are also working with our tripartite partners to shape positive perceptions among employers and the public towards the employment of older workers. We have seen positive results. The employment rate of older workers aged 55-64 reached a high of 59% in 2010. MOM will continue to work with our tripartite partners to help older workers to secure jobs and encourage employers and customers to be welcoming of older workers and a workforce of diverse ages.