Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong spoke during a dialogue at the National University of Singapore’s (NUS) Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) Singapore Perspectives Conference and said that Singapore workers want to work longer if they are healthy, as reported by Channel NewsAsia.
Wong was answering a question by the Chairman of the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) Professor Paul Tambyah, on making the Silver Support Scheme more universal, which the latter said would prevent senior citizens from suffering a drop in income when they stop working.
Professor Tambyah said that the narrative seems to be that we need to keep working and if we are unable to do a particular job, we’ve got to retrain.”
Wong responded by saying that according to surveys, workers in Singapore want to work longer as long as they are healthy.
He added that “obviously there’s a limit to how long we can work,” and added that with the longevity of the people and longer lifespans, the majority of workers want to actually continue working.
Wong then added that the workers realised that when they stopped working, they would see a rapid deterioration of their health.
He said that work is more than a source of income and provides dignity and purpose, and there is something fundamental and important about work.
DPM Wong also added that it was important to have a stable job and work consistently, and if you’re a new entrant, a young adult entering the workforce, work consistently.
He added that whatever job you can do, you can be assured of a basic retirement sum.