Effective 2026: Singapore’s New Retirement and Re-Employment Age

Earlier this year, the Singapore government announced its new retirement and re-employment age policies, both of which will come into effect in 2026. These guidelines will see the retirement age raised to 64 and re-employment age raised to 69.

This Pacific Prime CXA will delve into Singapore’s updated retirement and re-employment age according to the government.

Overview: The Updated Retirement and Re-Employment Age

Back on Monday, March 4th, 2024, in the Ministry of Manpower’s Committee of Supply (COS) 2024 debate, the Singapore government announced amendments made to the country’s retirement and re-employment age, which are currently 63 and 68, respectively.

These changes, set to come into effect in 2026, will see the retirement age raised to 64 and the re-employment age raised to 69 and aims to improve the country’s older workers’ employment prospects.

This amendment was also part of a larger strategy to adjust the retirement and re-employment framework to cater to the country’s aging population, thus needing greater flexibility in the workforce.

Under the government’s long-term plan, the retirement and re-employment age amendments will not stop there as the former will be raised to 65 and the latter will be raised to 70 by 2030. By that time, Singapore’s workforce will witness a steady shift as older employees have more opportunities for retirement and re-employment.

The Reasoning Behind Singapore’s Retirement and Re-Employment Age Amendment

Some of the main reasons for the Singapore government’s amendments made to the country’s retirement and re-employment age policies include the country’s recurring aging population, economic benefits, improved life quality, and workplace flexibility.

In the following sections we will briefly go over each main reason behind the government’s retirement and re-employment age updates.

The Aging Population

Due to Singapore’s rapidly aging population with the increase in elderly citizens, the amendment calls for policies that allow old workers to keep their jobs longer. This will allow them to maintain economic productivity amidst the country’s recurring aging population concern.

Economic Benefits

While we’re on the subject of the economy, retaining older employees also means businesses can benefit from their experience, knowledge, and stability. Additionally, this also helps mitigate challenges stemming from the shrinking workforce.

Improved Life Quality

By extending the re-employment age, older employees are given continued financial security even in their later years. This will help reduce the strain on their finances while simultaneously improving their life quality after retirement.

Workplace Flexibility

These updated measures also promote workplace flexibility, giving older workers more options to balance their professional responsibilities with personal needs like finances or family matters.

Government Support for Employers to Promote Re-Employment

Seeing how certain employers may find re-employing senior employees daunting, the Singapore government introduced various financial support programs to ease the transition and encourage older employee retention for businesses.

These two initiatives include the Part-Time Re-Employment Grant (PTRG) and the Senior Employment Credit (SEC), both of which we will be discussing in the following sections.

Part-Time Re-Employment Grant (PTRG)

The Part-Time Re-Employment Grant (PTRG) aims to help employers grant more flexible working arrangements to senior workers. Through financial incentives provided to businesses, this grant promotes part-time re-employment, other flexible work alternatives, and structured career planning for older employees.

This program’s goal is to support businesses in adapting work models to meet the needs of senior workers while simultaneously benefiting from their expertise.

This grant program is available to employers offering part-time re-employment or flexible work arrangements to senior workers aged 60 and above, allowing eligible companies to receive up to SGD $125,000 in terms of grant.

For each eligible senior employee, companies can also receive SGD $2,500 with a total cap of SGD $125,000 per company. This grant scheme is projected to lessen the financial burden on businesses while also ensuring senior workers can continue contributing to the workforce.

Senior Employment Credit (SEC)

The Senior Employment Credit (SEC) aims to help employers hiring employees aged 60 and above by offering wage offsets, ensuring employers are motivated to hire senior workers and offers a financial relief of up to SGD $4,000/month. Do keep in mind that this credit only applies to full-time senior employees who earn up to SGD $4,000/month.

This scheme provides a wage offset of up to 7%, although this depends on the employee’s age.

The SEC scheme will help employers reduce the financial impact of hiring older workers while also promoting workplace inclusivity and is expected to encourage more employers to consider senior workers for full-time employment, making sure to include each and every experienced employee in the hiring process.

Future Impact

These amendments to Singapore’s retirement and re-employment age reflect Singapore’s larger societal shift towards greater workplace adaptability and inclusivity. By extending working lives, the economy will benefit from a diverse workforce as senior workers bring valuable skills, experience, and mentorship to the workforce.

The re-employment age extension will also improve financial stability for workers in their later years, which reduces dependency on personal savings and state-funded programs. Additionally, as older employees remain, businesses will witness greater intergenerational collaboration, which fosters a more inclusive, diverse workforce.

As the workplace grows more diverse, companies must invest in alternative employee benefits solutions, known as flexible benefits, to cater to each age group’s unique needs. Flexible benefits will allow companies to empower employees with choice along with benefits that matter to each individual group.

Known benefits of flex benefits include mitigating the cost of premium inflation, collection of feedback through employee surveys for program satisfaction, lifestyle analysis and assessments, and more.

Conclusion

With these changes set to roll out by 2026, businesses will benefit from a more diverse workforce with opportunities for senior workers to serve as mentors to the newer generation of employees. And with the help of the PTRG and SEC schemes courtesy of the Singapore government, businesses can effortlessly hire older, more experienced employees once more.

We deeply understand that each employee’s individual needs is something a one-size-fits-all employee benefits scheme just wouldn’t work as flexible benefits is the key to offering employees better coverage and catering to each age-specific need. Fortunately, that is where we come in.

As an experienced health insurance broker and employee benefits specialist, Pacific Prime CXA can not only help you with finding the right health insurance plan, but also effective employee benefits solutions to ensure your employees’ voices are heard and that their unique needs are being met.

Whether you’re an expat or local Singaporean citizen seeking health insurance in Singapore, or a business looking for effective employee benefits solutions for improved talent retention, we will be more than happy to help you out with completely impartial advice at no additional cost.

If you have any further questions, please get in touch with us. Or, if you are interested in plan comparisons, get a free quote with us and feel free to request for a free flexible benefits demo on our CXA Portal.

Wish Sutthatothon (Nickname: Guy) is currently a content writer at Pacific Prime Thailand, an insurance broker that connects individuals and businesses with insurance providers worldwide. He creates and edits blog articles, guides, reports, webpages, and other types of digital content.

He graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Communication Arts, Media & Communication major (concentration: Creative Content) from Mahidol University International College (MUIC). During the compulsory major elective period in the summer of 2021 and voluntarily during the summer of 2022, he also interned as a video and photo editor at Mbrella Films.

He has experience working as an English Content Writer at a real estate buying/renting/selling platform in Thonglor. There, he crafted company blog posts on a multitude of topics. Topics include market trends, legal issues and disputes in property businesses, financial guides, expat guides, home insurance, home decoration and maintenance, and weekly real estate news quick-recaps. Occasionally, as part of the blog-writing process, he would also translate existing Thai blogs to English.

In his free time, Guy enjoys doing scriptwriting and storytelling for comic strips, watching movies, and listening to music (particularly film scores).

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