Ms Teo: Govt, unions and employers all agree retirement, re-employment ages of elderly should be raised

In Parliament today (5 Mar), Manpower Minister Josephine Teo told Parliament that the Government, unions and employers have all agreed to raise the retirement age beyond 62 and re-employment age beyond 67 (‘Parliament: Govt, unions and employers agree retirement, re-employment ages should be raised‘).

Ms Teo was referring to the Tripartite Workgroup on Older Workers set up last year to look into issues like retirement age and re-employment age of elderly.

Describing this as a “significant milestone”, Ms Teo said the workgroup will work out the details over the next few months, such as how far and how fast adjustments should be made, before submitting a final recommendation later this year.

Ms Teo said that she believes a higher retirement age will “motivate” both workers and employers to invest in skills upgrading and job redesign for the elderly workers, as people enjoy more years of good health.

The workgroup said that the increases in the retirement and re-employment ages should be implemented in small steps over time because employers will need to make considerable adjustments.

“Advisors” of Tripartite Workgroup on Older Workers

The Tripartite Workgroup on Older Workers is chaired by MOM’s Permanent Secretary Aubeck Kam. The group also includes Ms Teo, labour chief Ng Chee Meng and SNEF President Dr Robert Yap acting as “advisors” on behalf of the government, the unions and the employers.

Ms Teo, of course, is the Manpower Minister while NTUC Secretary-General Ng Chee Meng is also a Cabinet Minister under PMO.

As for Robert Yap, according to Bloomberg, he is the boss of logistic firm YCH Group Pte Ltd. He serves or had served as:

• Director of PSB
• Director of JTC
• Director of IE Singapore
• Director of Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA)
• Advisor to government strategic committees in MTI, IDA, EDB, TDB, PSB.
• Member of the Committee of Singapore Competitiveness of MTI
• Member of E-Commerce Industry Committee of IDA
• Member of Economic Review Committee
• Government Parliament Committee for Transport and Trade, Finance & Industry

He was awarded the Public Service Medal in 2017.

In any case, Ms Teo, Mr Ng and Dr Yap must be quite happy to have reached a consensus on raising retirement and re-employment age of Singaporean elderly.