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

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.

Jointly Issued by Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Manpower
1 December 2015