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SINGAPORE: A record number of older Singaporeans were employed in June last year, according to the latest report by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM). About 47.8 per cent of the resident population aged 50 and above had jobs.
MOM said the bulk of the increase - 1.5 percentage points out of the 1.8-percentage point gain - stemmed from the entry of older people into the workforce.
Most sought employment because of financial considerations and found jobs in administrative as well as support services such as in the cleaning, security and F&B industries.
Despite the better numbers, MOM said there is still a sizeable pool of older residents outside the labour force, especially women.
In June 2007, about half or 495,300 residents aged 50 and above were economically inactive.
Narrow this down even further to the 50-64 age group, and the number of unemployed older women was more than triple compared to that of older men, at 169,200 and 50,500 respectively.
Two in three economically inactive women in this age group had either stopped working for at least a decade or had never worked before.
MOM said programmes aimed at encouraging older women back to work will therefore need to be complemented with skills upgrading and work preparation.
The ministry also said there is a need for availability of part-time and flexi-work arrangements to help encourage economically inactive residents to join the workforce.
The report is available online at www.mom.gov.sg/mrsd/publication.
The land transport sector is one of the more age-friendly employers. The National Transport Workers' Union says about 70 per cent of workers in the sector are above the age of 50.
And the numbers are set to go up, as Singapore's two major bus service operators - SBS Transit and SMRT - have extended the retirement age for drivers to 65. This has certainly helped to ease the manpower shortage within the industry.
Fang Chin Poh, the general secretary of the National Transport Workers' Union, said: "Currently (for) SBST and SMRT, the shortage of bus captains and bus service leaders is around 200 and 300 per day. So we encourage older workers to work."
He added that extending the retirement age of the drivers would also help them to become more active and so keep them healthy.
- CNA/yb/ir
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