Re‑employment rate of public officers

Written Reply to Parliamentary Question on the re-employment rate of public officers

Parliamentary Sitting: 19 January 2015

Mr Seah Kian Peng: To ask the Prime Minister (a) how many civil servants and statutory board officers are now above 65 years old; (b) what is the current percentage of workers who are not re-employed at 62 years old and at 65 years old respectively; and (c) what is the percentage the Government is looking at in two to three years' time.

Written Reply by Mr Teo Chee Hean, Deputy Prime Minister, Coordinating Minister for National Security, Minister in charge of the Civil Service and Minister for Home Affairs:

As at 31 December 2013 , there were about 139,400 public officers in service, of whom 1,400 were aged 65 years and above.

Based on our latest available annual data, from 1 January 2013 to 31 December 2013, about 94% of public officers who retired at age 62 and wished to continue working were re-employed. 6% (or 64 in total) were not re-employed. Amongst these officers not re-employed, about 9 in 10 did not meet the qualifying criteria of having satisfactory work performance, good conduct and being medically fit to continue working. As we recently introduced our re-employment guidelines for age 65, which took effect from January 2015, the re-employment rate at age 65 would only be available later. Nevertheless, the Public Service has been re-employing officers even before this policy took effect. Of the 1,400 public officers above the age of 65, the oldest civil servant is 80 years old.

The Public Service does not set any target on the re-employment rate of public officers. If a job is available and the officer is not a poor performer or does not have medical problems, the public service agency will offer re-employment to the officer.