Government finalising plans to raise re-employment age from 65 to 67: Amy Khor

By Jeanette Tan | Yahoo Newsroom – 

Singapore's Ministry of Manpower is working to finalise policy details that would raise to 67 from 65 the age up to which employees should be offered re-employment.
 
During the ongoing debate on the President's address, Minister of State for Manpower Amy Khor said in Parliament on Tuesday afternoon that the tripartite committee on the employability of older workers, which she chairs, is sorting out remaining implementation issues, updating relevant laws and guidelines on re-empmloyment of older workers.
 
Raising the re-employment age "does not mean that we do not want Singaporeans to retire" but rather "that we want to help those who wish to continue working to be able to do so", she said.
 
Khor also urged employers to re-employ those who have reached 65 years old even before the law is changed as "this could help mitigate some of the effects of the current tight labour market".
 
The civil service has so far re-employed almost 800 workers above the age of 65, she noted.
 
Khor also clarified that the statutory retirement age of 62 is not to require Singaporeans to retire at that age but to protect workers below it from being dismissed on the grounds of age. She noted that there is no legal requirement for employers to retire workers at any specific age.
 
Under the Retirement and Re-employment Act, employers are required to offer re-employment contracts of at least one year to eligible employees who reach age 62, renewable up to age 65.
 
According to Khor, after re-employment legislation was introduced in 2012, 99 per cent of private sector local employees who turned 62 in the year ending June 2013 were offered re-employment that 98 per cent accepted.
 
Khor also stressed that it takes a "mindset change" by all quarters of society to support older workers at work.
 
"We need to change the way we think about growing old and move the conversation from a negative one of worrying about the problems of aging to a positive one of tapping on the opportunities from our increased longevity," she said.

https://sg.news.yahoo.com/government-finalising-plans-to-raise-re-employment-age-from-65-to-67--amy-khor-141448814.html