Singapore: Older Men Making Greater Gains than Older Women

Singapore has set a record high proportion of the older population in the labour force and in employment. Key findings of an occasional paper on "A Statistical Profile of Older Workers" from the Ministry of Manpower's Research and Statistics Department show that both the participation and employment rates of older males in Singapore compare favourably to countries in the region and beyond and that while older females have also made significant gains, their participation and employment rates are still relatively lower than in many developed countries.

Specifically, the participation rate among resident males aged 60 to 64 rose from 49% in 1996 to 63% in 2006, while among females in the same age group, the rate rose from 15% to 26%. For men, that is significantly higher than participation rates in Hong Kong (45%), Taiwan (47%), Germany (41%), Netherlands (31%), France (19%), the United Kingdom (56%) and the United States (59%).

Among other findings, older workers were more likely to be self-employed (26%) than the younger cohort (12%), older workers have a lower incidence of switching jobs, and full-time older workers tend to work longer hours compared to those younger.

Source: Ministry of Manpower Press Release (February 22, 2007)