Ageism, age discrimination and the re-examination of retirement in Singapore, 1978-1993

Abstract

In 1993, the Retirement Age Act was introduced which raised the minimum retirement age from 55 to 60 years old and made it illegal for employees to dismiss their workers on the grounds of age. Existing literature explores how this was done to combat the issue of age discrimination, and to overcome negative stereotypes about the aged. In this paper, I argue that that the increase in retirement age was designed to reduce the pressure on the state’s resources in the context of an ageing population, as well as raise the labour supply in the economy to meet the needs of the rapidly expanding economy. My project has two aims, firstly to question whether the positions of the aged inevitably declined as a result of modernization, and secondly, to question whether government’s intervention through increasing the retirement age, and promoting a ‘positive’ model of ageing, was ultimately beneficial for the seniors.