Extension of 3% Wage Offset till New Re-employment Age of 67 Takes Effect

1. At the National Day Rally 2015, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced that the re-employment age would be raised to 67 by 2017, to provide more opportunities for older workers who want to keep working as long as they are healthy.
2. Tripartite partners are currently in discussion on the effective date of the new re-employment age of 67. In the meantime, employers are encouraged to continue to re-employ older Singaporeans aged 65 and above.
3. To encourage employers to voluntarily re-employ older Singaporeans aged 65 and above before legislation takes effect, the Government had during Budget 2015, introduced an additional wage offset of up to 3% of wages for one year to encourage employers to hire workers aged 65 and above earning up to $4,000 a month in 2015.
4. The Government has paid out over $22 million to more than 49,000 employers who employed about 110,000 older Singaporeans aged 65 years and above, for work done in the first half of 2015.
5. To show our continued commitment and support toward re-employment of older workers, the Government has decided to extend the wage offset until the new re-employment age of 67 comes into effect.