PETALING JAYA: The current retirement age of 60 should be maintained while also allowing certain industries the space to decide whether they would need to retain their workforce past retirement, says the Malaysia Employers Federation (MEF).
“Retirement is a very sensitive issue. It means different things to different people. Some of us want to retire on time or early to enjoy the rest of our lives doing the things we could not do when we were working.
“For some, they need to work as their financial needs are not planned well,” its president Datuk Dr Syed Hussain Syed Husman (pic) said when contacted.
He said to force all people to extend their retirement is not right.
“Our views are the current retirement age of 60 should be maintained but allow each sector, industry or business to decide if they need the skills of their staff and by mutual agreement to continue working on agreed terms,” he said.
Syed Hussain also said Malaysia has a young population whereby some are underemployed while others are unemployed.
“We do not have a labour shortage. We need to create space to accommodate more younger people to be hired.
“Singapore is ageing faster and does not have a local population to support.
“The country is dependent on foreign labour. They need to find ways to keep their local employers. It makes sense to them. Not for Malaysia,” he added.
He said not all sectors can accommodate ageing employees, especially jobs that are physically taxing and require mobility.
With the development of artificial intelligence and technology, the nature of jobs are also changing and elderly will have to adapt, he added.
