More seniors remain employed after retirement, re-employment ages raised in 2022: MOM economists
The study tracked the employment outcomes of about 180,000 residents born between 1959 and 1961 to assess the impact of raising retirement age.
SINGAPORE – More older folk are staying in the workforce after Singapore raised the retirement age and re-employment age in 2022, noted a new study.
It found that after the minimum retirement age rose from 62 to 63 from July 1, 2022, the employment rate for those affected went up by 0.4 percentage points over seniors not covered by the policy change.
Similarly, the increase in the re-employment age from 67 to 68 also raised the employment rate for affected seniors by 0.7 percentage points, according to the study by Manpower Ministry senior economist Yuen Wing Shan and lead economist Samuel Huang.
The study tracked the employment outcomes of about 180,000 residents born between 1959 and 1961 to assess the impact of raising retirement age.
The effects of raising re-employment age were examined by tracking around 160,000 residents born between 1954 and 1956.
Currently, resident senior workers who join their companies before turning 55 can keep their jobs until they meet the minimum retirement age of 63.
They must also be offered the option to stay employed until the re-employment age of 68, provided their work performance is satisfactory and they are medically fit to keep working.
Top stories
Swipe. Select. Stay informed.
Asia India, Singapore ministers discuss deeper tie-ups in digitalisation, skills, industrial parks
Singapore askST: Public bidding possible if assets seized in $3b money laundering case are sold at auction
Singapore 2 dead after fire in Jalan Bukit Merah flat, about 60 evacuated
Singapore TB screenings at two pre-schools after staff member diagnosed in July
Business Haidilao to close Clarke Quay outlet on Aug 31; exit follows 3 earlier outlet closures
Singapore HSA seeks Kpod investigators to arrest abusers, conduct anti-trafficking ops
Opinion How to train a drone warrior, with lessons from Ukraine
Opinion The truth about AI: Firms will profit, workers will lose jobs
The study found that the hikes in 2022 work because they 'provide legislative protection and set the social norms of retirement for senior workers'.
Specifically, raising the re-employment age could shift expectations among seniors and their employers as they adjust their idea of when retirement should happen.
'Given Singapore's increasing life expectancy and ageing population, the retirement age and re-employment age protect senior workers and enable them to work longer if they wish to,' noted the study.
'This in turn allows employers to meet their manpower needs in a tight labour market.'
The study also said that raising the retirement age has benefited seniors working in knowledge-intensive roles in sectors such as manufacturing and wholesale trade, where employers might otherwise prefer younger staff with more updated skills.
The policy also helped delay the retirement of seniors living in bigger flats and private housing, possibly because they valued being able to keep their full salaries and benefits for one more year.
However, the study found that the retirement age for this cohort did not extend much beyond 63, suggesting that the policy helped delay, but would not stop seniors from leaving the workforce.
The trend holds true for the re-employment age, suggesting that seniors were prepared to retire after hitting 68.
The Retirement and Re-employment Act, enacted in 2012, has been revised several times to bring Singapore closer to its eventual goal of raising the retirement age to 65 and re-employment age to 70 by 2030.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNA
32 minutes ago
- CNA
NDR 2025: WP urges government to engage widely, explore all options amid global uncertainty
SINGAPORE: In response to Prime Minister Lawrence Wong's National Day Rally speech on Sunday (Aug 17), the Workers' Party (WP) urged the government to "engage widely and explore all options" amid global economic uncertainty. The National Day Rally speech is widely seen as the most important political speech of the year. From artificial intelligence (AI) to a new traineeship scheme, Mr Wong touched on several subjects during the speech. In a statement early on Monday morning, the opposition party cited the advance release of the Manpower Ministry's labour force report for the second quarter of this year that said the uncertainty is expected to persist in the coming months and may weigh on hiring and wage growth. "Against this cautious backdrop, the Workers' Party urges the government to engage widely and explore all solutions tabled in good faith, including previously untapped ones," said the party. "Singapore should leave no stone unturned in our collective efforts to build a truly resilient nation for the future and keep our Singapore flag flying high." It said the government should "tackle present concerns" for businesses and employees, including rising rental costs, skills-related unemployment and the "slow rate of real income growth" of 0.7 per cent per year over the past five years. It reiterated its manifesto proposal that JTC Corporation should expand its market share for industrial space and continue offering low-rent options at different price-value points for small- and medium-sized enterprises alongside its private sector-run facilities. The party also called on the government to "urgently track and regularly publish" underemployment measures, as well as to establish a statutory minimum wage. "We agree with the approach of improving jobs matching efforts for Singaporeans, and ask that the relevant organisations accelerate the setting up of this programme with the economic uncertainty ahead," said the WP. "In our experience, many residents referred to e2i often receive career counselling, but not the direct job-matching support they truly need," the party added, referring to the National Trades Union Congress' Employment and Employability Institute. In the 2025 General Election, the Workers' Party retained its 10 seats in parliament by holding on to Aljunied GRC, Sengkang GRC and Hougang SMC. It will also have two Non-Constituency Members of Parliament in the next parliament. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE Amid concerns over the impact of AI on jobs, Mr Wong assured Singaporeans that they remain the central focus of the country's economic strategy. While technology will lead to some roles evolving and others disappearing, Mr Wong said new jobs will also emerge. The WP said that while AI and new technologies will help businesses, they will also "alter the employment landscape permanently, leaving many Singaporeans behind". It reiterated its proposal in its manifesto for more collaboration between the ministries of education and manpower, to ensure that Singapore's school curriculum aligns with "evolving needs". Singapore should implement "skill-demand feedback loops" from industries for the design of the curriculum, funding for "structural skill-gap areas" and career guidance. "This targeted approach ensures that our education system can provide students with the knowledge and skills needed to achieve high-value career pathways both domestically and globally," the WP said. It called for an increase in the number of allied educators, which can lead to "a meaningful reduction" in class sizes. The party also urged a shift away from high-stakes examinations and towards continual assessment and a through-train approach. "Ultimately, our goal is to create an education system that develops well-rounded individuals with the confidence and capabilities to succeed in an ever-evolving world," it added. The party also called for improvements to social safety nets, including the introduction of redundancy insurance and the mandating of retrenchment benefits for people who are laid off from companies with at least 25 employees. In his speech, Mr Wong also announced a new government-funded traineeship programme. It will provide training opportunities for graduates from the Institute of Technical Education, polytechnics and universities. The scheme will kick off with a "more focused roll-out" and will be scaled up if the economy worsens, he said. The WP said the programme should be designed with safeguards to ensure that state-sponsored internships and apprenticeships are not used by firms as a "source of cheaper, subsidised labour". "There should be clear performance metrics and a transparent commitment from participating companies to consider trainees for full-time employment once the training period ends," it added. All trainees should also receive basic workplace protections, said the WP, including paid sick leave and safe working conditions.
Straits Times
2 hours ago
- Straits Times
Russia strikes Kharkiv with ballistic missile, injures 11, Ukraine says
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox KHARKIV - Russia hit a residential area in Kharkiv with a ballistic missile, injuring at least 11 people, Ukrainian authorities said late on Sunday, as the U.S. president presses Kyiv to accept a quick deal to end the war that Moscow had started. Among the injured in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, was a 13-year-old girl, Oleh Synehubov, governor of the broader Kharkiv region said on the Telegram messaging app. Kharkiv, which lies in northeastern Ukraine near the border with Russia, has been the target of regular Russian drone and missile attacks since the start of the war that Moscow launched with a full-scale invasion in February 2022. "The blast wave shattered windows in nearby apartment buildings," Ukraine's State Emergency Service said on Telegram. It added that some residents had to be evacuated. Reuters' witnesses saw medics attending to residents on a street and rescuers inspecting damage in residential buildings. A 57-year-old woman was injured in Russia's guided aerial bomb strike on the northeastern region of Sumy that also damaged at least a dozen residential houses and an educational institution building, regional authorities said. "The enemy continues to deliberately target civilian infrastructure in the Sumy region — treacherously, at night," Oleh Hryhorov, head of the regional administration in Sumy, said on Telegram. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore NDR 2025 a rallying cry amid significant challenges facing Singapore, say analysts Opinion A 'we first' Singapore is the hardest policy for PM Lawrence Wong to deliver Singapore NDR 2025: The case for growing old at home in super-ageing Singapore Business Will Trump's tariffs end the bull run? Singapore Singapore-developed device for diabetics measures long-term average blood sugar levels within 6 mins Singapore N(T) students more likely to finish school, do as well in job market as N(A) peers: Study Business Singapore companies' debt surge in 2024: Sustainable or risky gamble? Singapore Arrested for drug abuse, former DJ now works for anti-drug group as part of DRC scheme Reuters could not independently verify what weapons Russia used. There was no immediate comment from Moscow. Both sides deny targeting civilians in their strikes, but thousands of people have died, the vast majority of them Ukrainian. President Donald Trump, who hosted President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday for bilateral talks aimed at ending the war, has urged Kyiv to make a deal with Moscow, stating, "Russia is a very big power, and they're not." REUTERS
Business Times
2 hours ago
- Business Times
AI boom seen driving next decade of emerging markets performance
[LONDON] Emerging-market (EM) funds are pivoting to capture the artificial intelligence (AI) craze, with some investors predicting that booming technology spending will drive returns for years to come. Encouraged by the success of Chinese AI developer DeepSeek and Asia's powerhouse semiconductor firms, asset managers such as AllSpring Global Investments and GIB Asset Management are concentrating more of their portfolio in AI stocks. That's been a winning trade, with AI companies being the six biggest contributors to the rally in Bloomberg's EM stocks index this year. 'This trend could last for the next 10 to 20 years,' said Alison Shimada, head of total emerging markets equity at AllSpring, which oversees US$611 billion. 'The impact on local populations within EM will be transformational.' While much of the AI investment frenzy has focused on a handful of Silicon Valley firms, EM companies that can harness the technology or supply crucial components are benefiting. AI servers, for example, have become the main growth driver for Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry, which is known as Foxconn. The top contributors to Bloomberg's EM stock index this year are Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Tencent Holdings, Alibaba Group Holding, Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix and Xiaomi Corporation, together accounting for 37 per cent of the index's rally. Emerging-market stocks that are highly exposed to AI have even outperformed the so-called Magnificent Seven megacap tech firms so far this year, according to equities strategists at Citigroup. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up 'You cannot invest in emerging markets without having a sanguine and optimistic view of what this AI story can evolve into from a corporate earnings perspective,' said Kunal Desai, London-based co-portfolio manager for global emerging markets equities at GIB Asset Management. Desai said that Taiwan and South Korea will be 'central drivers' of the EM market story over the next two to three years, with Malaysia, China, India, parts of Latin America and the Middle East seeing 'disproportionate gains' due to their exposure to AI data and applications. His fund has invested in AI stocks during recent market dips, predicting that a third of emerging market returns will come from AI-related stocks in the coming years. There are signs that the momentum will continue as AI adoption accelerates across segments, including cloud computing and electric vehicles. The average estimate of forward 12-month earnings for EM tech stocks has increased 15 per cent since the start of the year, compared to 6 per cent for EM stocks overall. 'The share of AI contribution from the performance standpoint will only grow from here,' said Xingchen Yu, an emerging markets strategist at UBS Global Wealth Management. 'The rise of AI and tech is creating a new layer of secular growth, especially in North Asia.' The AI revolution could help EM stocks overcome a key obstacle: earnings performance. Company results have lagged forecasts every quarter since early 2022, with MSCI EM Index companies collectively missing profit expectations by more than 12 per cent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. But firms in the AI-heavy information-technology sector have consistently met earnings projections since the fourth quarter of last year, boosting investor confidence. 'This sector has been expected to grow explosively and will continue to do so in the future,' said Young Jae Lee, senior investment manager at Pictet Asset Management. 'AI will continue to be a key sector within emerging markets.' BLOOMBERG
