RAISING OF COMPULSORY RETIREMENT AGE

RAISING OF COMPULSORY RETIREMENT AGE: 1.

Dr Lily Neo asked the Minister for Manpower whether he will consider raising the compulsory retirement age and, if so, when will it be done.

The Minister of State for Manpower (Mr Gan Kim Yong) (for the Minister for Manpower): Mr Speaker, Sir, over the past two years, the employment rates of Singapore residents between the age groups of 55-59 and 60-64 have risen significantly. For the 55 to 59 age group, it increased from 56% in 2004 to 61% in 2006. For the 60 to 64 age group, it rose from 34% in 2004 to 42% in 2006. The employment rates of older Singapore male residents in particular, at 78% for the 55 to 59 age group and 60% for the 60 to 64 age group in 2006, are higher than the OECD average and many developed countries, although we still trail Japan and Sweden. This improvement has been mainly due to the good economic growth leading to expanded employment opportunities. The efforts by the tripartite partners have also facilitated this improvement through various schemes and initiatives.

We will continue to take this approach of growing the economy and working in conjunction with our tripartite partners to seek effective ways to raise the effective retirement age for older workers. The Tripartite Committee on Employability of Older Workers in its Interim Report last year recommended a more flexible model of legislation where employers are required to offer some form of re-employment to workers who reach the retirement age, although not necessarily the same job on the same terms. Such a system was introduced in Japan in April 2006 and a tripartite study group visited Japan in October last year to study its experiences. The Tripartite Committee is evaluating the results of their re-employment legislation system. This will help us determine if this form of legislation is suitable and effective for Singapore.

Dr Lily Neo (Jalan Besar): May I ask the Minister of State whether now is an opportune time to raise the retirement age due to the number of jobs created last year, and is it not time now to get more older workers to join the workforce or delay retirement to contribute to the workforce when the labour is tight?

Mr Gan Kim Yong: Mr Speaker, as I explained in my speech just now, we are taking various measures to encourage older workers to continue to stay in the workforce. We are also introducing a lot of initiatives to encourage employers to shift their mindset and to accept older workers in their workforce. We are studying the Japan's system of encouraging older workers to work. So I think, at the moment, our focus is on practical ways to encourage older workers to remain in the workforce, rather than to look at the retirement age.

Mr Speaker: One last supplementary question.

Dr Lily Neo: Thank you, Mr Speaker. May I ask the Minister of State how does MOM prepare for this ageing population and ageing workforce? Are there new avenues for upgrading and employment of older workers? How do you encourage employers to accept older workers? The last question is: how do you promote lifelong learning and nurture lifelong employability?

Mr Gan Kim Yong: Mr Speaker, through our various schemes, especially under the Advantage! Scheme which was announced some time last year, we have come out with a suite of measures to encourage older workers to continue to upgrade themselves. We are also working with NTUC to carry out job redesign so that certain jobs which were not suitable for older workers will be made suitable for them. We are also working with the employers' representatives, SNEF as well as SBF, to work with employer groups to change the work practices in the work places to make them more suitable for older workers and to also help employers change their mindset to be more receptive to older workers. Through all these measures, we will continue to encourage our workers to work longer in preparation for an ageing population and an ageing workforce.

With regard to her question on lifelong learning, we will continue to pursue lifelong learning both through the WDA as well as the training institutions.