Elderly forming larger share of people outside ageing workforce
The resident workforce is ageing, with the share of residents aged 60 and above hitting 13 per cent of the labour force this year, more than double the 5.5 per cent in 2006. The median age of residents in the labour force was 43, up from 40 in 2006.
More residents in the labour force were tertiary-educated, forming more than half (53 per cent) the resident labour force this year, up from 39 per cent in 2006. Contract employment continued its second year of decline, with those on term contracts making up less than one in 10 (9.4 per cent) resident employees, down from 11.8 per cent in 2014.
The decline reflects the exit of short-term or casual workers amid less-optimistic business conditions in industries such as retail and accommodation and food services, said the Ministry of Manpower in its 2016 advance report on the Labour Force in Singapore released yesterday.
But as the labour force continued to age, older residents formed the largest and increasing share of those outside of it. This group comprised residents who were not employed and not actively looking for a job or available for work during the period under review.
Those aged 60 and over made up 44 per cent of residents outside the labour force this year — or 462,800 out of 1.06 million residents aged 15 and over — up from 37 per cent in 2011.
The ageing population naturally means that this share will continue to rise in the coming years, said SIM University senior economics lecturer Walter Theseira.
Better social safety nets for the elderly mean that more do not feel compelled to work and this could be counted as a policy success.
“The policy question is whether opportunities exist for those who are capable of working, and who want to work, to engage in paid work,” he added.
But having the elderly forming a larger share of people outside the labour force could have consequences, cautioned labour economist Randolph Tan of SIM University.
“At times like this (uncertain outlook and economic restructuring), it’s when all types of workers, including older workers, tend to have weaker say in the labour market and may withdraw, reducing their opportunities in the future when the economy recovers,” he said. NEO CHAI CHIN
