The National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) of Singapore will raise the retirement age and re-employment age ceiling for its workers to 63 and 68 respectively from Jan 1, 2021, more than a year ahead of the national schedule.

All of its 12 social enterprises, which include FairPrice, Foodfare, Income and First Campus, will also do so from July 1, 2021.

The announcement was made at dialogue session last week, which was attended by Guest-of-Honour Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) and Minister for Finance Heng Swee Keat, comprising union leaders from NTUC-affiliated unions, and representatives from NTUC’s social enterprises

With this move, about 430 employees from NTUC and its social enterprises stand to benefit from the early raising of the retirement age, while about 280 workers will benefit from the early raising of the re-employment age.

Currently, NTUC and its social enterprises employ about 2,400 workers who are older than the current statutory retirement age of 62.

Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat, who was guest-of-honor at a dialogue between the 4G leaders and around 150 union leaders stated he was "heartened" by NTUC's "age-friendly workplace practices".

NTUC’s decision to accelerate raising of retirement age follows Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s announcement in his National Day Rally speech in August that Singapore's retirement age will be raised from 62 to 63 in 2022, and 65 by 2030. Similarly, the re-employment age will be raised from 67 to 68 in 2022, and 70 by 2030. 

The measures come as the current leadership prepares to hand over to a new generation in the coming years. The government believes that a higher retirement age will encourage workers and employers to invest in upgrading skills and adapting jobs for older workers. Raising the re-employment age enables to give companies more flexibility to reset work terms such as salary and job scope to deal with business uncertainties. As the debate over whether there should be retirement age in companies gains momentum, Singapore’s step to raise it is another move in a positive direction and NTUC has followed suit.