Members of the public can expect to be updated on the Tripartite Workgroup on Older Workers’ efforts to raise the ages of retirement and re-employment for Singaporeans before Sep this year, said Manpower Minister Josephine Teo.
In a statement on Tue (11 Jun), Mrs Teo added that there has been “very good progress” on the workgroup’s efforts, and that “there were many working discussions between the Tripartite leaders on implementation details, including support to employers”.
She added that solid tripartite relations “founded on trust has allowed us to avoid the kind of bickering we sometimes see elsewhere”.
“Instead, we have been able to focus on making longevity productive for both workers and employers,” said Mrs Teo.
Citing a Lianhe Zaobao report on Mon (10 Jun), which noted that the healthy life expectancy of Singaporeans rose 7.2 years to 74.2 years in the last 27 years, while life expectancy rose 8.7 years to 84.8 years, Mrs Teo said that she is “encouraged by these statistics”, as rising life expectancy indicates that Singaporeans are generally in “good health”.
“People living longer and generally healthier lives is a key reason that they work longer – this is a trend that we observed across many developed countries,” she added.
The retirement age was last raised in 1999 from 60 to 62, while the re-employment age was raised from 65 to 67 two years ago.
