By Zakir Hussain

MOST Singapore workers will retire at age 62.

This legal retirement age, however, does not apply to 26 categories of workers, including soldiers, civil defence officers, airline cabin crew, pilots and even some doctors.

Many of these employees retire much earlier.

The Government, though, is reviewing the list of exemptions, with the aim of trimming it, the Manpower Ministry's divisional director for labour relations and workplaces, Mr Ong Yen Her, said yesterday.

He made the disclosure during a dialogue with unionists to discuss the latest draft guidelines on the re-employment of workers when they turn 62.

'The idea is to remove as many as possible from the list, so that more people from the age of 60, 62, can continue to work. We're looking at it. It should be ready before the law comes into effect,' he said.

By 2012, Singapore will have a law requiring employers to offer continued employment to retiring workers who are medically fit and whose performance is satisfactory.

If no job is available, such workers will be offered a payment to tide them over while they hunt for another job.

With this re-employment move, however, the group of workers excluded from the Retirement Age Act would lose out, noted Mr Mohamed Munir, president of the ExxonMobil Singapore Employees' Union.

He asked: 'Will this go against the spirit of giving employment opportunities for older workers?'

Mr Ong replied that exemptions are given where the physically strenuous nature of the work means older employees may not be able to carry on in the same job, like in the police.

He also cited firefighters, saying 'they need to be strong physically; otherwise, you may end up needing help instead of helping others'.

Also exempted are those on pension schemes and who joined their organisations before the law took effect in 1993.

Some multinationals have policies on pensions that can start at age 55 or 60. It would not be fair to require them to rehire a worker who has already collected his pension, said Mr Ong.

Foreigners are also excluded. 'There is no reason why we should impose our retirement age on foreigners working here on a transient basis,' he said.

Another exempted group comprises employees under 62 hired for a specific project or on a temporary contract of not more than two years.

Among those who welcomed the review of the retirement law is Nanyang Technological University economist Choy Keen Meng.

Mr Choy, who is exempted from it, said a change will improve the labour force participation rate, which is necessary for economic growth, while keeping in check the pool of foreign workers.

'Businesses may have mixed reactions, but it is clearly a good thing for workers,' he added.

This article was first published in The Straits Times.