Singapore law to offer re-employment up to 65

Singapore plans to compel firms to offer re-employment to staff when they reach retirement age and introduce an annuity to help it cope with a rapidly ageing population, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said today, reports Reuters.

"We are legislating not to further delay the retirement age, but to require employers to offer re-employment to workers at 62 for another three years until 65, though not necessarily in the same job or at the same pay," PM Lee said at a conference organised by AARP, a U.S. organisation that represents senior citizens.

Singapore is also considering changes to the Central Provident Fund, which all working Singaporeans must contribute to, so that citizens will receive a steady stream of income for the rest of their lives after they reach 65, PM Lee added.

He, however, ruled out offer free healthcare, although he acknowledged that many Singaporeans were concerned about the spiralling cost of medical treatment.

This is big news, but I am yet to see it on the mainstream Singapore news sites.

The Straits Times website merely reports:

Work as long as you can.

This is the advice from Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to older and retired Singaporeans, who he said should stay active and engaged as they can still contribute much to the workforce and community.

But to support older workers, many social attitudes and institutional structures established when life expectancies were shorter and Singapore's population was younger will have to change, said Mr Lee…

Mr Lee cited the wage structures and employment terms as examples which need to be updated.

Speaking at a conference on reinventing retirement on Thursday morning, PM Lee urged all parties to play their roles in changing outdated status quo.

Apparently, the Straits Times is reporting the same speech as Reuters, but it seems to have completely missed the news point.
Just because ministers have spoken about raising the retirement age in the past does not mean it should not be mentioned now.

Channel NewsAsia has not even reported the speech yet.

The transcript of the speech can be downloaded at SINGOV, the Singapore government website.