Speech at Tripartite Workgroup on Senior Employment (TWG-SE) Launch Conference

MOS Dinesh Vasu Dash, Orchard Hotel

Introduction
1 Good morning, everyone, thank you for being here today. Together with my co-chairs, Mr Desmond Tan from the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) and Ms Tan Hwee Bin from the Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF), I am happy to launch the recommendations of the Tripartite Workgroup on Senior Employment, or TWG-SE. 

2 Our recommendations are centred on giving people more choice and flexibility over work, and find more ways to contribute, adapt and find fulfilment across different stages of life.  This calls for more than extending careers. This requires us to rethink how jobs are designed and how workplaces can support their workers over the course of longer lives and careers. 

3 Our goal is therefore to build age-friendly jobs and multi-generational workplaces, where experience is valued and people can continue contributing in ways that work for them, and in turn benefit businesses.

Context

4 Singapore has made steady progress in supporting senior employment. The 2019 Tripartite Workgroup on Older Workers (TWG-OW) laid strong foundations by progressively raising retirement and re-employment ages, increasing CPF contribution rates, and introducing relevant grants and support. These measures have enabled more seniors to remain employed in meaningful ways. 

5 However, as technology reshapes jobs, and as people balance work with health, caregiving and other priorities, we must also redesign careers and workplaces. Senior employment should not simply mean doing the same job for more years. It should mean having meaningful options across a longer career span, and leveraging senior workers for business success.

6 This is why the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), NTUC, and SNEF convened the Workgroup in July 2025 to refresh Singapore’s senior employment strategy. Over many months, we have held extensive discussions, studied approaches of other countries and engaged more than 1,000 stakeholders, including businesses, unions, seniors, HR professionals and academics, to co-create the recommendations. I am glad many who shaped this work are here with us today.

7 In parallel, the Workgroup convened an Alliance for Action on Empowering Multi-Stage Careers for Mature Workers (AfA-EMW), to turn ideas into practical solutions. Over a year, 30 organisations across six sectors designed, tested and refined prototypes with our tripartite partners. You saw some of these in the video earlier. These prototypes demonstrate how employers can put flexibility and other age-friendly practices into practice, from redesigning jobs and adjusting how work is organised, to helping workers plan and transition into the next stage of their career. The solutions benefited more than 1,600 senior workers and provided valuable insights for the Workgroup’s recommendations.

Overview of Recommendations

8 Let me move on to the six recommendations we are presenting today. Taken together, they seek to support senior workers who wish to continue working with more flexible opportunities and guidance, and support employers to leverage such employment to strengthen business competitiveness and address manpower pressures.

9 First, enable more flexible work options and strengthen career guidance for seniors who need it. This will enable our seniors to remain in the workforce longer, while balancing caregiving responsibilities and other personal needs. We recommend strengthening support for employers to offer more flexible jobs to senior workers and facilitate the re-entry of those who may have fallen out of the workforce. To support employers, a Flexi-Load Programme will be inaugurated. We hope that this grant will help employers create flexible work arrangements for our senior workers. To put it in context, this particular grant replaces the Part-Time Re-employment Grant, which in itself has already supported about 68,500 seniors and about 7,800 employers. We also propose to establish a new programme office for career longevity under SWDA, to strengthen career planning for workers and encourage employers to develop age-inclusive practices. 

10 Second, we propose bringing forward the raising of the retirement age of 65 and re-employment age of 70 to 1 January 2029, one year earlier than planned. This sends a clear signal that seniors who wish to continue working would have the opportunity to do so.

11 Third, increase financial support for workers who are not re-employed. We recommend raising the recommended minimum and maximum Employment Assistance Payment (EAP) amounts to better reflect wage growth. 

12 Fourth, reduce the tax burden on seniors who continue working beyond the statutory retirement and re-employment ages. We propose enhancing the Earned Income Relief for this group, to increase their take-home pay and encourage them to continue working.

13 Fifth, continue to support employers hiring and retaining older workers. This is currently done through the Senior Employment Credit (SEC), extended to 2027, currently provides employers with wage offsets of up to 7% for hiring Singaporeans aged 60 and above earning under $4,000 a month. We recommend replacing it with a new Re-Employment Credit (REC) from 2028, offering stronger support for employing workers beyond the retirement and re-employment ages. 

14 Finally, provide more support for lower-wage seniors. We propose enhancing Workfare Income Supplement (WIS) and the Progressive Wage Credit Scheme (PWCS) to help these workers earn higher incomes and build up their CPF savings for retirement.

Conclusion and Final Thanks 

15 At the heart of these recommendations is our commitment to help seniors who wish to work find meaningful and sustainable employment, in more flexible ways. For some seniors, this may mean continuing in the same job for longer. For others, it may mean moving into a different role, working at a different pace, or adjusting work around changing personal circumstances. What matters is that seniors who wish to continue working have meaningful options to do so, and employers have the support to make these options possible and part of their long-term business strategy.

16 On behalf of MOM, I sincerely thank our tripartite partners, NTUC and SNEF, and everyone who has walked this journey with us. Together, we are shaping age-friendly jobs and workplaces where senior workers can continue contributing, growing and finding fulfilment for as long as they wish. Thank you.