Don’t know about you lah, but every year, other than Budget hor, lao niang sure sure will look forward to National Day Rally and pray that PM Lee will got some happy and good news (aka goodie bag aka free money) for Singaporeans one.
Things you must know about the National Day Rally 2022, other than the repeal of 377A
Because lao niang want to retire earlier and stay at home and shake leg!
During his National Day message this year, PM Lee hint hint that older workers who haven’t built up enough Central Provident Fund (CPF) savings for retirement could also do with “extra help”. Sounds like there will be some positive news for Singaporeans!
If you still don’t know hor, Singaporeans turning 55 in 2023 must die-die need to have at least $99,400 in their CPF savings (excluding Medisave) to meet the Basic Retirement Sum.
For those who are more goot lat (diligent) and want to enjoy life more after you retire then you might want to have at least $198,800 for the Full Retirement Sum and $298,200 for the Enhanced Retirement Sum lor.
It is no secret that Singapore is a rapidly ageing country.
By 2030 hor, one in four Singaporeans will be senior citizens sia. So naturally a lot of effort will need to be put into preparing Singapore for this. Like for example, building more healthcare facilities, and also making sure that Singaporeans will have enough savings when they retire to last them until they up the lorry.
On top of all these hor, the Gahmen also need to ensure that the older people can keep up with the technological changes and will not get 淘汰 (make redundant) at their workplace. Because got work = got money = can save up for retirement. Simple logic.
For many many years, the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) has always been advocating for older workers and pushing for the Gahmen to give more support to the older workers.
NTUC Deputy Secretary-General Heng Chee How, in particular, has fought very hard for older workers under the Retirement and Re-employment Act, to make sure that no worker can be asked to leave and kena dismissed from work because of their age before the statutory retirement and re-employment ages. Like employers suka-suka dismiss older workers because of their age, this is age discrimination sia!
He has also called for the tripartite partners to identify sectors and occupations that will get displaced by technologies and fasterly send older workers to go for re-skilling so that older workers in these jobs can keep up with the changes and remain employable for as long as they want to.
As recently as last year, the Gahmen increased the CPF contribution rates of older workers aged 55 to 70 in January 2022. While the labour MP welcome this move, he also felt that this is still not very enough for most to achieve retirement adequacy. So ah, he hopes that the Gahmen can look into reviewing the qualifying criteria for employer CPF contributions, and adjust it according to the economic changes.
Say real one, if next time Singapore gets flooded with senior citizens, nobody take care of them, how sia?
