Budget 2025: Support boost to help employers hold on to older workers
Published on
19 Feb 2025
Published by
The Straits Times
SINGAPORE – Employers of Singaporean workers aged 60 and above will get another fillip for their efforts to tap the experience of these seniors.
The Senior Employment Credit (SEC), which helps defray the wage costs employers bear for hiring Singaporeans aged 60 and above who earn under $4,000 a month, will be extended by one year to Dec 31, 2026.
“We want to work with employers to tap the experience and wisdom of seniors who are able and wish to continue working,” said Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, who was delivering the 2025 Budget statement in Parliament on Feb 18.
This comes as more seniors are staying employed, with Singapore’s ageing population, he noted.
He also announced a raised qualifying age of 69 for the highest support tier of the scheme, up from 68 years old currently, in line with a slated increase of the re-employment age to 69.
“The Government will reimburse companies up to 7 per cent of the wages that they pay to workers aged 69 and above.”
The SEC had previously been set to expire at the end of 2025.
The Ministry of Manpower will also convene a Tripartite Workgroup on Senior Employment.
“The workgroup will undertake a holistic and longer-term review of senior employment policies to improve the employability of seniors and increase the availability of jobs that better suit their needs.”
The changes come on top of another round of increases to the Central Provident Fund contribution rates for older workers aged above 55 to 65 and their employers that PM Wong also announced in his speech.
PM Wong said some workers may face career setbacks due to economic and business disruptions despite reskilling and upskilling.
He highlighted the upcoming SkillsFuture Jobseeker Support scheme as one way through which the Government intends to help workers who lose their jobs get back on their feet.
Set to be launched in April, the scheme will provide financial support of up to $6,000 over six months so these workers can pursue training or search for better jobs with greater peace of mind, he noted.
He also mooted an increase in career matching services beyond nationwide programmes by facilitating job search at a localised level.
The North East Community Development Council (CDC) currently runs job placement centres in the district, in partnership with Workforce Singapore.
As the centres have “yielded meaningful outcomes”, the Government will expand localised job matching to the remaining four CDCs across Singapore. “This will help job seekers who prefer to take on jobs near their home, for example, to balance work and caregiving responsibilities,” PM Wong said.
Meanwhile, the Uplifting Employment Credit will be extended by another three years and will now last until Dec 31, 2028.
The scheme, which had been set to lapse after Dec 31, 2025, provides a wage offset of up to 20 per cent of local ex-offenders’ wages for the first nine months of their employment, capped at $600 per month per employee.
He noted the scheme supported close to 700 employers to hire more than 1,500 ex-offenders in 2024.
Similarly, the Enabling Employment Credit, which provides wage offsets for those hiring local employees with disabilities aged 13 and above but who earn below $4,000 a month, will be extended until end-2028 too.
“Singaporeans are at the core of everything we do. We will do everything we can to develop and realise the potential of all our people, so that they, in turn, realise their aspirations and dreams for themselves and their families,” said PM Wong.
- Tay Hong Yi is a correspondent who covers manpower and career issues, with occasional forays into fintech, trade and corporates.
Source: The Straits Times © SPH Media Limited. Reproduced with permission.
Photo: The Straits Times
Written By: Tay Hong Yi
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