SINGAPORE'S AGEING WORKFORCE : IMPLICATIONS AND POLICY ISSUES

Abstract

Ageing population has been a well-known phenomenon in many developed countries since the early 1950s. Similar to the experiences of these developed economies, Singapore's experience of ageing population (in the late 1990s) transforms to that of an ageing workforce. The thesis explains such a transformation by applying the demographic transition theory from population economics. As a small and rapid-growing economy, Singapore has been experiencing labour shortage from the 1980s and this problem is exacerbated by the ageing workforce. Why is this so? One of the objectives of this study is to draw out the implications of an ageing workforce to the labour market, which complicate the problem of labour shortage, especially skilled-labour shortage (due to current structural shifts in the economy). For instance, the skill-gap between older and younger workers widens because there are limited training opportunities for the older workers. The main reason lies in the tradeoff in profits for higher training for the older workers. Similarly, the job opportunities for older workers are also limited, causing a possible under-utilisation of human capital. The other concern of the thesis is to examine how the pool of healthy and younger elderly can be tapped in the labour market. By surveying Singapore current policy measures and adapting some experiences from other developed economies, we will consider some policy options, which will help to improve employability of the older workers. In this way, Singapore will utilise her human resource more efficiently.