With prices steadily rising over the past months, some seniors have emerged from retirement and have rejoined the workforce again. And with the tight labour market, some employers are more than willing to take them in. A recent CAN report says that in some sectors including hospitality, senior workers are particularly welcome.
LinkedIn, the world’s largest online professional network, recently said that in Singapore, job postings for the accommodation sector, which includes hotels, motels, casino hotels, and bed-and-breakfast inns (B&Bs), have gone up by 15 per cent due to manpower shortages. The CAN report even showed one 65-year-old man who had been a restaurant manager returning to the workforce as a kitchen steward, despite having retired over a decade ago. Three months ago he found employment again.
“Singapore is not a cheap place to live,” Mr Manoharan Ponniah Armugam, who now works at the Holiday Inn Singapore Atrium, told CNA. “You’ve got to work to support daily life. I have grown-up children, and my wife is a housewife. I have to work to support her,” he added. He is working “to keep our life going,” which means paying rent and utility bills.
Additionally, three out of four of the country’s older workers are saying they intend to keep working even after they reach retirement age, which is 63 at present, says a study from Milieu Insight. Many wish to do so in order to remain active and purposeful even in their later years. And while older workers may face challenges in returning to the workforce, most of which are related to technology, many employers say they are willing to invest in training the returning workers. However, many netizens expressed dismay at retirees returning to the workforce, adding that for many older workers, financial circumstances mean they have no choice but to go back to work.
The Independent Singapore
