Age Discrimination - Singapore Leads the Way Out
I recently came across one of the most enlightened yet radical approaches I’ve seen to date in addressing issues of age discrimination in the work force. It’s a proposal that did not originate in the minds any of the brighter policy makers in the United States, but from a recent speech given by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong of the island nation of Singapore.
The fact is that, if any candidate for U.S. political office were to advocate Prime Minister Loong’s plan, it would, no doubt, spell political suicide. In a nutshell, he is introducing legislation which would require re-employment of older workers.
The proposed law would require employers to offer re-employment to workers reaching retirement age, which, in Singapore, is 62. Over time, this would rise to age 65 and later would go up to 67. Also, as proposed, the government will provide financial incentives for aging employees to continue working, and for employers to hire them.
Like the United States, Singapore is seeing rapid growth of an aging population. From 1970, life expectancy has increased from 65.9 to 79.9. Among other things, there are concerns that people’s savings will not stretch far enough to see them comfortably through an expanded life expectancy. Hmm… this sound like a well worn refrain we hear from the mouths U.S. baby boomers, doesn’t it?
Given the cultural and political landscape in the U.S., however, Loong’s proposal could be seen as approaching insanity. First, culturally we’re in deep denial about aging. Next, we abhor cradle to grave thinking to the point of almost total neglect in finding ways to fix a chaotic, out of control health care system. Issues surrounding aging simply are off the political radar screen.
Frankly, I think this refreshing Singaporean proposition for solving problems of work place age discrimination, and mitigating the inevitable monstrous costs of dealing with aging multitudes, merits serious consideration here in the U.S. Will that happen? Probably not!
Tags: age, Age Discrimination, aging population, Aging Process, Anti Aging, Baby Boomers, senior citizens, seniors
