Employment Issues Relating to Aged Workers in Singapore - Coursework Example

Employment issues relating to aged workers in Singapore Labor force can be defined as the number of people employed together with the number of the unemployed but seeking employment. Participation rate on the other hand is defined as the numbers of persons in the labor force divided by the number of the adult inhabitants’ noninstitutional population, while non labour force includes those who are not looking for work i.e. those people who are institutionalized, for example those who are held in prison or psychiatric wards in hospitals, stay-at home spouses, kids, and those serving in the military1. According to the Singapore Census of Population 2000, older Singaporeans (aged 65 and above) made up approximately 7.3% of the population in 19992. That segment is projected to grow to 19% of the total population by 2030. A vast majority of Singapore’s elderly are not actively involved in economic activities for example they are retired or not otherwise looking for employment and that elderly women of all ages were more likely to be economically inactive compared to elderly men3. In the year 2009, employed older persons (aged 65 and above) made up about 3.1% of the resident Singapore workforce and this figure has had quite minimal variation to date due to various factors like increased job opportunities and continued national effort to enhance their employability4. Old and new laws that affect aged workers in Singapore The current law that affects aged workers is engraved in the retirement age act which was enacted after Labour Force Survey by the Ministry in 1988, whereby the government decided to increase the age of retirement to the age of 60, which was later raised to 62 under the Retirement Act in 1999. The new law which will definitely affect those working above the age of 62 had the age raised to 65 by the year 20105. This new law was passed by parliament and it makes it a must for the organization to employ again workers beyond the retirement age of 62. This law kicks off this year. According to the law, there will be flexibility. When the retired workers are employed again, the work give should not be necessarily the same job he/she was doing. The workers will be given a chance to stay on their old jobs if their health is okay and their performances are satisfactory. In regard to this law, the organization should talk to the workers 6 months before the age of 62 if they want to be re-employed. If the employer is not in a position of offering a job again to the retiring worker, a one time employment assistance payment will be given to the worker to assist him for a period of 3 moths as he/she tries to find another job. This payment will not be over $10,000. If there is a disagreement between the worker and the employer, the worker will turn to the Ministry of Manpower. The employers who break these rules are given a fine or jailed. The main intention of this new law is to give older workers who still want to work a right to continue working. The Singapore Government has established and continually supported various programmes in relation to Labour policies implementation and management as concerns elderly workforce in the economy6. Some of these include: Ministry of Manpower (M.O.M) Ministry of Manpower (M.O.M) through which, the People for Jobs Traineeship Programme (PJTP) was launched in June 2001 to encourage companies to fill their job vacancies by tapping into the available pool of workers aged 40 and above 86. This scheme opens up opportunities for many mature and older workers who might otherwise not be considered by companies for their lack of relevant work experience. To better induct older workers into anew working environment, the programme requires that participating companies put in place traineeship arrangements for such workers7. Companies that provide traineeships or mentorship programmes to new recruits will obtain financial assistance from the government8. The programme was particularly effective in the enabling of more elderly workforce being employed as the hiring companies also benefited from wage subsidies from the government. Workforce Development Agency (WDA) Workforce Development Agency was founded in 2003 to improve the competitiveness of the workforce by encouraging employees to learn for life in order to improve their skills. This is because currently employment does not need only knowledge but it requires also skills. The organization collaborates with employers’ industry associates and organizations that train workers to come up with and strengthen the Continuing Education and Training (CET) 7. The mission of WDA is to enhance employability and competitiveness of the workforce. WDA is collaboration with different education institutions such as ISPE and WAI. International society of pharmaceutical engineering (ISPE) in collaboration with WDA is offering masters classes in biopharmaceutical. As a result of developing technologies in biopharmaceutical, it is significant for the biopharma workers to continuously improve their skills and knowledge. For the company to adjust to the volatile and competitive economy, the personnel should stay relevant to the evolving technologies. William Angliss Institute (WAI) deals with training in hospitality and tourism. It partnered with WDA in 2011 to provide integrated continuing education and training for tourism. This will help the elderly raise their skills level in work force. The (WDA) developed the Skills Programme for Upgrading and Resilience (SPUR) which is an enhanced funding scheme developed to up-scale training programmes9. This programme can be considered to be effective in the sense that it enabled for the management of the economic slowdown and, in particular, saving of jobs and build up capabilities for recovery, from which many companies benefited and stabilized and thus the economy in general. Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF) Under this federation, various programmes were formed which included: Tripartite Guidelines on Managing Excess Manpower, Skills Programme for Upgrading and Resilience, Revised NWC Guidelines, Jobs Credit Scheme and finally the Professional Skills Programme. The Tripartite Guidelines on Managing Excess Manpower programme aims at Training and upgrading employees’ skills under the Skills Programme for Upgrading and Resilience, Redeploying employees to other areas of work within the company, implementing shorter workweek, temporary layoff, flexible work schedule or other flexible work arrangements and managing the cost of wages by use of a flexible wage system. Secondly, the Skills Programme for Upgrading and Resilience has the following objectives: Help companies reduce their manpower costs while saving jobs, Help local workers including retrenched workers, reskill and upskill and assist the employers and workers together to be able to build abilities for the economic recovery. Thirdly, we have Revised NWC Guidelines10. These guidelines emphasizes on cutting costs to save jobs and Wage freeze / Wage cut to stay competitive and save jobs. In addition to the four discussed programmes we also have, Jobs Credit Scheme. This scheme encourages businesses to preserve jobs in the downturn by offering incentives for employers to retain local workers, and where their business warrant employing new ones. Finally, we have Professional Skills Programme. This programme emphasized on the following: Skills Conversion, Skills Upgrading, provision of tertiary Courses, Leadership & Management Skills Training and Career Workshops11. The managerial and psychological aging perspective From the managerial and psychological aging perspective, employers and the government are of the view that an increasingly scarce labor population is being felt in the economy and this has led the government to increasingly rely on foreign labor, necessitating for inclusion and retaining of the elderly labor force to supplement the existing workforce. Currently, foreign labor accounts for 33% of the work force12. However, this increasing reliance on foreigners may threaten the socio-political landscape of Singapore, and as such the government is taking steps to encourage women and older workers to participate in the labor force as well as to increase their employability13. Some bosses believe that it is corporate social responsibility to practice re-employment for aged people. Further, more they think that local organization should strive to their best to offer employment to the local people and hire them on the basic of performance to age. The companies that re-employ the old people have gained positive image to the Singaporeans and people prefer doing business with them; re-employment aid the company in retaining the staff allowing it to remain competitive and nimble especially in dynamic industries. For example, Lam soon won an AARP award for being the best in employing aged workers. The company has more than 1500 employees and more that 22% of them are above the age of 62. The executive chairman of the company Whang Shang Ying believes that older people possess great experience and are capable of contributing largely to the company. For instance, aged workers in each function are given subject matter experts and they play a significant role as trainers and facilitators15. The government through relevant ministries has enacted laws that have therefore encouraged companies to set up policies that will favour retaining of the elderly workforce in the economy. Some of these policies include: Changes to the Retirement Age Act, Wage Reduction in Retirement Age Act, Singapore Retraining Policies, Introduction of Re-Employment Act and finally the Introduction of anti-discrimination legislation. In 1955, Singapore central provident fund (CPF) was constituted in order to provide financial security for the old in Singapore. Since it was started, it has grown into a saving system and it has changed the total concept of social security from the terms retirement to the terms of life. It has remained a mandatory saving scheme for all workers in the country. In conclusion, the Singapore government through relevant policies has tried to create a balance in its labour force and tried to address the scarcity of labour that was created by its once aggressive and successful campaign to reduce total fertility rate (TFR). This campaign, which was implemented from the 1960s through the 1980s, was highly successful, as TFR declined steadily over the years, which unfortunately resulted in the inability of adequate replacement of aging labour in the economy14. But through the implementing of the above programmes, the Singapore government will enable for reversing the effect of reduced total fertility rate on labour force and avoid aspects such as overreliance on foreign labour to run its economy15. Bibliography Keen, M.C. (2007). The Singapore economy: an economic perspective. London. Oxford University Press Augustine, H.H (1995). Singapore’s economy: growth and structural change. SAGE Peebles, P.R & Wilson, T.F (2002). 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Available at http://www.the-ice.org/imagesfile/Member%20News/WAI-CET%20Singapore%20article_17Jun2011.pdf. Read More