FEMALE EMPLOYMENT RATE AFTER AGE 55

FEMALE EMPLOYMENT RATE AFTER AGE 55: 11.

Mrs Josephine Teo asked the Minister for Manpower (a) what are the reasons for the relatively low female employment rate after age 55 in Singapore compared to OECD countries; and (b) what steps can be taken to boost the employment rate of women in this age group.

Mr Hawazi Daipi (for the Minister for Manpower): Sir, Singapore's employment rate for females aged 55 and above was 22% in 2006. This is comparable to the average of 22.2% among OECD countries. Nevertheless, it is lower than Japan (27.3%), the US (31.4%) and Sweden (42.9%). This is mainly because a large number of Singapore women would leave the workforce during the child-bearing age of about 30 and most never returned. Like Singapore, many countries see a dip in the female employment rates during child-bearing ages. However, our employment rate does not rise back thereafter, unlike in countries like Japan or Australia.

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In the 2006 Labour Force Survey , about two-thirds (65%) of economically inactive women aged 55 to 64 cited housework as their main reason for not working.

One strategy to help females stay in or rejoin the workforce is to enable them to better manage their family and work commitments. The Ministry has therefore been working with companies to introduce workplace arrangements to enhance the work-life needs of their employees. This is spearheaded by the Tripartite Committee on Work-Life Strategy, chaired by me. And in 2004, MOM launched the $10 million Work-Life Works! (WoW!) Fund to help employers to introduce work-life measures at the workplace, with an emphasis on flexible work arrangements. So far, 445 companies have received grants to enhance their work-life strategies. The WoW! Fund was topped up by another $10 million this year.

To raise the employment rate of older workers in general, the Tripartite Committee on Employability of Older Workers, chaired by the Minister of State Gan Kim Yong, has recommended a holistic set of strategies in its final report in May this year. The Committee is continuing its work for the next five years to implement these measures.

In particular, the tripartite partners have been working with companies to implement age-friendly employment practices. WDA' s ADVANTAGE! Scheme provides funding up to $400,000 per company to encourage employers to facilitate the recruitment, retention and re-employment of older workers. The re-employment legislation, which will take effect by 1st January 2012, will also help to facilitate older workers to work longer. We will also enhance the Workfare Income Supplement (WIS) Scheme to give higher payouts to low-wage workers aged above 55 and 60. These workers can

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receive up to double the payout to the younger workers.

The Tripartite Workgroup on Enhancing Employment Choices for Women, led by Mdm Halimah Yacob, is studying targeted strategies to enhance the employability of older women, and I look forward to receiving their recommendations.

Mrs Josephine Teo: One supplementary question. There is some feedback from women who seek to return to the workforce that they find it difficult to secure part-time work because companies continue to be able to access foreign manpower on a full-time basis, at not very high costs, compared to what they would be required to pay the back-to-work women. So the question I would like to ask the Senior Parliamentary Secretary is whether this perception is valid and if anything can be done to enable the women to compete more successfully for jobs vis-a-vis foreign manpower.

Mr Hawazi Daipi: Sir, in general, jobs are abound. Singaporeans who are unemployed have the opportunities to be employed. They can seek help from the CDCs or other DCN partners including the CareerLink Plus run by the self-help groups who will help to get either full-time job or part-time jobs. Some women or workers may not want full-time jobs because of their family backgrounds and they may only require part-time jobs. At least one CDC has piloted to help such job seekers to seek part-time jobs. The North West CDC has in the last three months helped 100 job seekers with part-time jobs. What the CDC has done is to seek part-time jobs from employers in the north-west district and help men and women, older workers included, who want only part-time jobs. So whether part-time or full-time jobs, what needs to

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be done by the job seekers is to go to the CDCs or other DCN partners to register their interest - the CDC will profile their skills and try to match them with a suitable job, place them and train them, if necessary.

Some people may need further encouragement to take up jobs offered to them because there are job seekers who have declined jobs offered by the CDCs, DCN partners or NTUC. So, more needs to be done to encourage people to go back to work. In fact, the three groups that I have talked about will work with their stakeholders - employers, other organisations as well as the potential workers themselves - so that more people can get help.