Retrenched in their 50s: The long road back to work for older workers

Older workers are taking longer to bounce back after being retrenched. Three of them tell CNA what it took to get back into the workforce.

Retrenched resident workers in their 50s are taking longer to return to work, with the proportion who found jobs within six months falling from 51.8 to 41.9 per cent in the second quarter of 2026. (File photo: CNA/Nuria Ling)

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SINGAPORE: Mr Francis Lee, 59, had just celebrated closing a deal when his company told him he was being retrenched. Restructuring at his multinational packaging firm had cost him his director role.

Life went quiet after his last day of work in February 2025. “Nobody will call you. Nobody will message you,” he said. After more than 30 years of being on call for his job and seeing his colleagues more often than his friends, the silence was disorienting.

Despite having savings and receiving a “golden handshake”, Mr Lee said he could not afford to retire given the rising cost of living. He also wanted to stay active. “At this age, since I’m able to learn and able to contribute, why am I just sitting there and doing nothing?”

A mechanical engineer by training, Mr Lee had spent his working life at one company apart from a few early years. The only option in his mind was another full-time job.

CNA Games Guess Word Crack the word, one row at a time Buzzword Create words using the given letters Mini Sudoku Tiny puzzle, mighty brain teaser Mini Crossword Small grid, big challenge Word Search Spot as many words as you can Show More Show Less For months, he kept busy by sending out job applications and taking courses in artificial intelligence, which he had not used at work. His efforts yielded only one interview – a referral from an ex-colleague – and no offers. He dusted off the taxi driver’s licence he obtained more than 10 years ago as a back-up plan. But he stopped driving after a few months – the earnings did not justify the hours, he was too tired to apply for jobs after his shifts, and his blood sugar level had risen from sitting for long hours. Months into his job search, Mr Lee put the brakes on looking for full-time work. He began offering his business and workflow automation skills to companies on a contract basis, or by training their employees. More than a year after his last job, he set up his own consultancy, APAC Edge, in April and got his qualifications as a trainer in September. He is looking for his first paying client and developing his first paid course.

For months, he kept busy by sending out job applications and taking courses in artificial intelligence, which he had not used at work. His efforts yielded only one interview – a referral from an ex-colleague – and no offers.

He dusted off the taxi driver’s licence he obtained more than 10 years ago as a back-up plan. But he stopped driving after a few months – the earnings did not justify the hours, he was too tired to apply for jobs after his shifts, and his blood sugar level had risen from sitting for long hours.

Months into his job search, Mr Lee put the brakes on looking for full-time work. He began offering his business and workflow automation skills to companies on a contract basis, or by training their employees.

More than a year after his last job, he set up his own consultancy, APAC Edge, in April and got his qualifications as a trainer in September. He is looking for his first paying client and developing his first paid course.

Francis Lee (standing in blue) facilitating a hands-on training session on AI for The Courage Chapter, a social enterprise championing inclusive hiring for older professionals, in October 2026. (Photo: Francis Lee)

His experience reflects a trend flagged in the Ministry of Manpower’s (MOM) latest quarterly labour market report , for April to June. The ministry said workers in their 50s are at higher risk of involuntary job displacement and may face greater job search challenges.

Resident employees aged 50 to 59 had the highest retrenchment rate of any age group in the quarter, at 3.6 per 1,000 workers. Unemployment and long-term unemployment (measured at roughly six months or more) among this group edged up to 3.1 per cent and 1.2 per cent respectively in June.

Hiring has not stopped. Retrenchment in Singapore is largely driven by business restructuring – jobs for residents continue to grow, and vacancies stood at 1.48 per unemployed worker in June.

But laid-off workers, especially older ones, are taking longer to bounce back .

The proportion of retrenched residents in their 50s who found work within six months fell from 51.8 to 41.9 per cent quarter-on-quarter. This six-month re-entry rate also slowed across all age groups, from 60.7 to 54.9 per cent.

In parliament, Acting Manpower Minister Jasmin Lau said more than half of retrenched resident workers are in their 40s and 50s. Older retrenched professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs) face lower re-entry rates than other age groups at the 12-month and 24-month marks, she added.

Mr Lee and others who spoke to CNA have picked up new skills, tapped career coaches and course funding, and adjusted their expectations. Their efforts have not always paid off, as employment outcomes remain out of their control.

For many retrenched workers, training to upgrade skills is an instinctive reaction to job loss.

Mr Rahmat Mohamad was let go at the end of 2024, a few months into a job as a creative production manager, when the media firm he worked for ran into business difficulties. He had sought the career change after years as a logistics supervisor at a golf retailer, and after taking a specialist diploma in motion and graphic design.

Rahmat Mohamad and his wife at his graduation ceremony for his specialist diploma in motion and graphic design in 2024. (Photo: Rahmat Mohamad)

Reluctant to return to logistics, the 53-year-old took courses in desktop support engineering and data science to explore a career in information technology, where he had also worked before. He used SkillsFuture funding where possible and received SkillsFuture Jobseeker Support by taking part in career workshops and consultations.

But formal training did not open doors. More than 400 applications produced no interviews. Mr Rahmat said that even with certification, employers still asked for experience for entry-level roles.

Through a referral, he returned to work in a lower-paying logistics role in March, more than a year after being retrenched. He juggled work with a professional diploma in data science, before graduating in June.

The career pivot is on hold as he settles into the job, but he still believes in keeping an open mind. "You have to keep on upgrading yourself. There's no such thing as a foolproof career," he said.

The father of three, who also cares for his wife, a kidney transplant patient, and a son with autism, said he handled his career setbacks the way he has endured other hardships.

“If one door closes, a lot of other doors will open up for you. So just stay positive. Just walk on. Just go through with it. At the end of the day, if you stay stagnant, nobody’s going to help you. You’ve got to help yourself,” he said.

Rahmat Mohamad (first from left) and his family on a day out at Gardens by the Bay in June 2026. (Photo: Rahmat Mohamad)

TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT

Experts in adult learning said older workers are willing and able to learn, but where the training happens matters.

Informal, on-the-job training is more strongly associated with positive employment outcomes than formal vocational training, said Ms Susana Harding, senior director of the International Longevity Centre Singapore at Tsao Foundation.

“Mature and older workers are not averse to training, and they would want it to improve their employment possibilities,” she said.

“They can go for training, but some of them actually are better off getting the training while they are at work, rather than being out of work and then finding training, and then expecting to then become employed.”

Her observations draw on a 2024 survey-based study of older workers by the centre and the Singapore University of Technology and Design's Lee Kuan Yew Centre for Innovative Cities. It found that mature workers benefit from informal training because they can direct their own learning while solving problems at work.

The study also found that "employability" – such as contact networks and competence – was the strongest predictor of improved employment, independent of formal training.

Dr Sahara Sadik, deputy director of research at the Institute of Adult Learning, said that for those who are jobless, the networking opportunities on a course matter as much as the training, as they bring new contacts and ways to facilitate a return to work.

However, older workers have significantly lower rates of training participation. In 2025, 44.5 per cent of workers aged 50 to 64 took part in training, compared with about 60 per cent for younger age groups, according to MOM data.

Dr Sadik attributed this to factors that correspond to age, particularly education level and job features, rather than age itself. Tertiary education, a PMET job, and a job designed for generative learning – which requires learning new things and applying knowledge and skills rather than doing routine work – are more strongly associated with a higher likelihood of taking part in training.

Older workers are less likely to have received tertiary education, and this in turn shaped the roles they could enter, where PMET positions generally offer more opportunities.

“PMET jobs demand continual learning, and PMET jobs are also the ones that employers tend to leverage to drive change,” she said.

One government effort is career conversion programmes run by the Skills and Workforce Development Agency. These job placements or attachments bundle structured training for the worker with salary support for the employer.

Former garment merchandiser Doris Lim was one worker who benefited. She lost her job at age 59 in 2024, when her company relocated its entire back-office operations to Vietnam.

Her first instinct was to look for jobs in the same industry where she had worked for over 30 years. But after six months with no callbacks, she widened her search.

Despite having no experience in precision manufacturing or the biomedical sector, Ms Lim applied to Cragar, a maker of medical device parts. Now 61, she has been a senior business and data analyst for about two years after joining the company through the career conversion programme for biomedical manufacturing.

Doris Lim, pictured at Cragar Industries' factory on Jul 22, 2026, became a senior business and data analyst there through the career conversion programme for biomedical manufacturing. (Photo: CNA/Alyssa Tan)

As a garment merchandiser, Ms Lim sourced raw materials, negotiated prices, coordinated within her firm to ensure garments met customer specifications and timelines, and forecast demand based on orders.

She used all these skills in her new job, though she had to adjust to industry-specific materials and timelines.

The hardest part was learning the company's products and technical standards. She put in extra hours and picked up Microsoft Power BI – a data analytics and visualisation tool – to add to her use of Microsoft Excel for data insights.

She also took a 10 to 20 per cent pay cut, but said the sector offers better career prospects than she had before. "I foresee that it's a growing industry, that I can progress from here for the next few years."

Ms Lim talking about her experience joining Cragar Industries after more than 30 years in the garment industry. (Photo: CNA/Alyssa Tan)

Ms Lau, the acting manpower minister, has said that close to nine in 10 mature participants were still employed 12 months after completing a career conversion programme.

“This is encouraging but reskilling alone cannot insulate older workers from future displacement, particularly in sectors undergoing rapid transformation,” she said.

Beyond the point of retrenchment, the government is looking at how older workers can stay employable throughout their careers, she said. A tripartite workgroup on senior employment , which is exploring ideas such as traineeships for older workers and fractional work, will make its recommendations this year.

“DON’T LOOK FOR A JOB, LOOK FOR WORK”

All three workers CNA spoke to believed their age likely put them at a disadvantage with employers.

In the Tsao Foundation survey, close to one in two workers aged 51 to 64 reported not being shortlisted or selected for a job due to their age, despite being qualified.

Age matters, but some hiring considerations relate more to the seniority that comes with it than to a candidate's age itself, said Mr Adrian Choo, a career coach and founder of human resource consultancy Career Agility.

“With age comes cost, comes seniority, comes a specialisation or an overgeneralisation of skills and experience,” said the former headhunter, adding that this tends to make senior hires more expensive than junior ones.

“Having said that, there is still a preference for younger workers … either from an energy standpoint or from a perception of energy standpoint,” he added.

The Workplace Fairness Act, which takes effect in 2027, lists age as a protected characteristic. Concerns have already been raised in parliament about the difficulty of proving that an employer's adverse decision was due to discrimination.

Mr Choo's advice to older jobseekers: “Don’t look for a job, look for work.”

If interviews are not producing full-time offers, candidates could make more headway by identifying specific problems that need solving in a company and offering their services on a part-time basis first, he said.

These form the building blocks of "portfolio careers", an option he commonly suggests to mature workers. Portfolio careers generate multiple streams of income from several different projects or part-time jobs, rather than one full-time position.

He acknowledged the switch is not easy. Introverted workers may find it hard to market their skills this way, and those with more generic skills may struggle to meet businesses' specific needs. Not every worker can reach "full capacity", where earnings from different projects add up to full-time pay, he said.

For Mr Lee, the former packaging firm director, it took a mindset shift and a long time to come round to the idea of a portfolio career.

But once he committed, fellow jobseekers and his coach felt he became "a different person", he said. "I'm more extroverted. I'm able to present in a much more positive way, much more confident."

In October, he facilitated his first AI hands-on training session with fellow jobseekers from The Courage Chapter , a social enterprise that champions inclusive employment for older professionals.

It brought him joy when participants got excited about applying what they learnt, he said. “At least you achieve something and you help out with something.”

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年长的员工被裁员后需要更长时间才能重返职场。其中三位向 CNA 讲述了他们重返职场的经历。

50多岁的失业居民重返工作岗位所需时间更长，2026年第二季度六个月内找到工作的比例从51.8%下降至41.9%。（资料图片：CNA/Nuria Ling）

这段音频由人工智能工具生成。

新加坡：59岁的李先生刚刚庆祝完成一笔交易，公司就通知他将被裁员。他所在的跨国包装公司进行重组，导致他失去了董事职位。

2025年2月，他最后一天上班后，生活就变得异常平静。“没人会打电话给你，也没人会给你发信息，”他说。三十多年来，他一直处于待命状态，与同事相处的时间远比与朋友相处的时间多，如今的寂静让他感到迷茫。

尽管有积蓄并拿到了一笔丰厚的离职补偿金，李先生表示，鉴于生活成本不断上涨，他无法负担退休生活。他还希望保持活力。“我这个年纪还能学习，还能做出贡献，为什么就这么坐着无所事事呢？”

李先生是一名机械工程师，除了早年几年，他一直在同一家公司工作。在他看来，唯一的选择就是再找一份全职工作。

CNA游戏 猜词游戏 逐行破解单词 流行词游戏 用给定的字母组成单词 迷你数独 小谜题，脑力挑战 迷你填字游戏 小方格，大挑战 单词搜索 尽可能多地找出单词 显示更多 显示更少 几个月来，他忙着投递求职申请，并参加人工智能课程，尽管这些技能在工作中并没有用到。他的努力只换来一次面试机会——一位前同事的推荐——而且没有收到任何录用通知。他翻出了十多年前考取的出租车驾驶执照，作为备用方案。但几个月后，他停止了驾驶——收入不足以弥补工作时间，下班后他太累了，无力再去申请其他工作，而且长时间坐着也导致他的血糖升高。几个月后，李先生暂停了寻找全职工作。他开始以合同工的形式向公司提供他的业务和工作流程自动化技能，或者为他们的员工提供培训。离职一年多后，他于今年四月创立了自己的咨询公司APAC Edge，并在九月获得了培训师资格。目前，他正在寻找首位付费客户，并正在开发他的首个付费课程。

几个月来，他忙着投递求职申请，还参加了人工智能课程——这些知识他在工作中并没有用到。然而，他的努力最终只换来一次面试机会（一位前同事的推荐），而且没有收到任何录用通知。

他翻出了十多年前为了以防万一而考取的出租车驾驶执照。但几个月后他就停止了驾驶——收入与工作时间不成正比，下班后他累得没力气再去找工作，而且长时间坐着也导致血糖升高。

在求职数月后，李先生暂停了寻找全职工作。他开始以合同工的形式向公司提供业务和工作流程自动化方面的技能，或者为他们的员工提供培训。

离职一年多后，他于今年四月创立了自己的咨询公司APAC Edge，并在九月获得了培训师资格。目前，他正在寻找首位付费客户，并正在开发他的首个付费课程。

2026年10月，弗朗西斯·李（图中穿蓝色衣服者）为“勇气篇章”（The Courage Chapter）——一家倡导为老年专业人士提供包容性招聘的社会企业——主持了一场人工智能实战培训课程。（照片：弗朗西斯·李）

他的经历反映了人力部最新发布的4月至6月季度劳动力市场报告中指出的一个趋势。该部门表示，50多岁的劳动者面临更高的非自愿失业风险，并且可能面临更大的求职挑战。

本季度，50至59岁年龄段的居民雇员裁员率最高，为每千名员工3.6人。6月份，该年龄段的失业率和长期失业率（以六个月或以上为衡量标准）分别小幅上升至3.1%和1.2%。

招聘并未停止。新加坡的裁员主要由企业重组驱动——居民就业机会持续增长，6月份的职位空缺率为每失业工人对应1.48个职位。

但被裁员工，尤其是年龄较大的员工，需要更长时间才能重新振作起来。

50多岁被裁居民中，六个月内找到工作的比例环比下降，从51.8%降至41.9%。所有年龄组的六个月再就业率也均有所放缓，从60.7%降至54.9%。

在国会，人力部代理部长刘嘉敏表示，被裁减的本地工人中，超过一半年龄在40岁至50岁之间。她补充说，与年龄较大的专业人士、经理、主管和技术人员（PMET）相比，被裁减的PMET在12个月和24个月后的再就业率较低。

李先生和其他接受CNA采访的人都学习了新技能，寻求职业导师的帮助和课程资助，并调整了预期。但他们的努力并非总能得到回报，因为就业结果仍然不受他们控制。

对于许多被裁员工来说，通过培训提升技能是失业后的本能反应。

拉赫马特·穆罕默德先生于2024年底被解雇，当时他担任创意制作经理仅几个月，原因是其所在的媒体公司遭遇了经营困境。此前，他曾在一家高尔夫用品零售商担任物流主管多年，并获得了动态和平面设计专业的文凭，之后才寻求职业转型。

2024年，拉赫马特·穆罕默德和他的妻子在他获得动态与平面设计专业文凭的毕业典礼上合影。（照片：拉赫马特·穆罕默德）

这位53岁的男子不愿重操旧业，于是参加了桌面支持工程和数据科学课程，探索信息技术领域的职业发展，他之前也曾在这个领域工作过。他尽可能地利用了技能创前程（SkillsFuture）的资助，并通过参加职业研讨会和咨询获得了技能创前程求职者支持计划（SkillsFuture Jobseeker Support）。

但正规培训并没有带来机会。400多份申请者没有收到任何面试邀请。拉赫马特先生表示，即使拥有证书，雇主仍然要求应聘者具备相关经验，即使是入门级职位也如此。

通过人脉介绍，他在被裁员一年多后，于三月份重返工作岗位，从事一份薪水较低的物流工作。他一边工作一边攻读数据科学专业文凭，并于六月份毕业。

他暂时搁置了职业转型计划，专心适应新工作，但他仍然相信应该保持开放的心态。“你必须不断提升自己。世上没有万无一失的职业道路，”他说。

这位育有三个孩子的父亲，还要照顾接受肾移植手术的妻子和患有自闭症的儿子，他说他应对事业挫折的方式，与他应对其他困难的方式一样。

“如果一扇门关上了，就会有很多其他的门为你敞开。所以要保持积极的心态，继续前进，坚持下去。归根结底，如果你停滞不前，没有人会帮助你，你必须自助，”他说。

2026年6月，拉赫马特·穆罕默德（左一）与家人在滨海湾花园游玩。（照片：拉赫马特·穆罕默德）

培训与就业

成人教育专家表示，老年劳动者有学习的意愿和能力，但培训地点很重要。

曹氏基金会新加坡国际长寿中心高级主任苏珊娜·哈丁女士表示，非正式的在职培训比正规的职业培训与积极的就业结果更密切相关。

她说：“成熟年长的员工并不排斥培训，他们希望通过培训来提高自己的就业机会。”

“他们可以去接受培训，但实际上，有些人最好是在工作期间接受培训，而不是失业后再去找培训，然后期望之后能找到工作。”

她的观察基于该中心和新加坡科技设计大学李光耀创新城市中心于2024年开展的一项针对老年员工的调查研究。研究发现，成熟员工能够从非正式培训中获益，因为他们可以在解决工作问题的同时自主学习。

该研究还发现，“就业能力”（例如人脉网络和技能）是就业改善的最强预测因素，与正规培训无关。

成人学习研究所研究副主任萨哈拉·萨迪克博士表示，对于失业者来说，课程中的社交机会与培训本身同样重要，因为它们可以带来新的人脉和重返工作岗位的途径。

然而，年龄较大的员工参与培训的比例明显较低。根据人力部的数据，到2025年，50至64岁员工的培训参与率为44.5%，而年轻年龄组的参与率约为60%。

萨迪克博士认为，这并非年龄本身所致，而是与年龄相关的因素，特别是教育水平和工作特点。高等教育、专业人士、经理、执行人员和技术人员（PMET）职位，以及以生成式学习为导向的工作（这类工作需要学习新知识并应用现有知识和技能，而非从事日常工作），都与更高的培训参与率密切相关。

年龄较大的劳动者接受高等教育的可能性较小，这反过来又影响了他们可以从事的职业，而专业人士、经理、执行人员和技术人员 (PMET) 的职位通常能提供更多机会。

“PMET（专业人士、经理、执行人员和技术人员）职位需要不断学习，而且雇主也倾向于利用PMET职位来推动变革，”她说。

政府的一项举措是由技能和劳动力发展署负责运营的职业转换计划。这些就业安置或实习项目将结构化的培训与雇主的薪资补贴相结合。

前服装采购员多丽丝·林是受益者之一。2024年，59岁的她失去了工作，当时她的公司将整个后台业务迁往越南。

她最初的想法是在自己工作了30多年的同一行业找工作。但六个月过去了，杳无音信，于是她扩大了搜索范围。

尽管林女士没有任何精密制造或生物医药行业的经验，但她还是申请了医疗器械零部件制造商Cragar公司的工作。现年61岁的她，通过该公司的生物医药制造职业转型计划加入Cragar，至今已担任高级业务和数据分析师约两年。

2026年7月22日，Doris Lim在Cragar Industries工厂接受采访。她通过生物医药制造行业的职业转型计划，成为该公司的高级业务和数据分析师。（图片：CNA/Alyssa Tan）

作为一名服装采购员，林女士负责采购原材料、协商价格、协调公司内部工作以确保服装符合客户的规格和时间要求，并根据订单预测需求。

她在新工作中运用了所有这些技能，尽管她不得不适应行业特定的材料和时间安排。

最难的部分是学习公司的产品和技术标准。她投入了额外的时间，学习了微软 Power BI——一款数据分析和可视化工具——以补充她之前使用微软 Excel 进行数据洞察的工作。

她也接受了10%到20%的降薪，但她表示，这个行业比她以前从事的行业提供了更好的职业前景。“我预见到这是一个不断发展的行业，未来几年我可以在这里获得晋升。”

林女士谈及她在服装行业工作30余年后加入克拉格实业的经历。（图片：CNA/Alyssa Tan）

人力部代理部长刘女士表示，近九成的成熟学员在完成职业转换计划 12 个月后仍然有工作。

“这令人鼓舞，但仅靠技能再培训无法使老年工人免于未来的失业，尤其是在正在经历快速转型的行业，”她说。

她表示，除了裁员之外，政府还在研究如何让老年劳动者在整个职业生涯中保持就业能力。一个由三方组成的老年人就业工作组正在探索诸如老年劳动者实习和兼职工作等方案，并将于今年提出建议。

“不要找工作，要找工作机会”

CNA采访的三名工人均认为，他们的年龄可能使他们在雇主面前处于劣势。

曹氏基金会的调查显示，51岁至64岁的劳动者中，有近一半表示，尽管他们具备相应的资格，但由于年龄原因，没有被列入候选名单或被选中。

职业教练兼人力资源咨询公司 Career Agility 的创始人 Adrian Choo 先生表示，年龄固然重要，但有些招聘考虑因素更多地与资历有关，而不是与候选人的年龄本身有关。

“随着年龄增长，成本也会增加，资历也会提高，技能和经验也会更加专业化或过于宽泛，”这位前猎头说道，并补充说，这往往会导致资深员工的招聘成本高于初级员工。

“话虽如此，人们仍然更偏爱年轻的员工……无论是从精力方面还是从对精力的认知方面来看，”他补充道。

《工作场所公平法案》将于2027年生效，该法案将年龄列为受保护特征。议会已对此表示担忧，认为很难证明雇主的不利决定是由于歧视造成的。

朱先生给年长求职者的建议是：“不要找工作，要找工作。”

他说，如果面试没有带来全职工作机会，求职者可以先找出公司需要解决的具体问题，然后以兼职的形式提供服务，这样可能会取得更大的进展。

这些构成了“组合型职业”的基础，他经常向成熟的职场人士推荐这种职业选择。组合型职业是指通过多个不同的项目或兼职工作来创造多条收入来源，而不是仅仅依靠一份全职工作。

他承认这种转变并不容易。性格内向的员工可能难以以这种方式推销自己的技能，而那些拥有通用技能的员工可能难以满足企业的特定需求。他还表示，并非所有员工都能达到“满负荷运转”的状态，即不同项目的收入加起来能达到全职薪酬。

对于前包装公司董事李先生来说，他需要转变思维方式，并经过很长时间才接受多元化职业发展的想法。

但他表示，一旦他下定决心，其他求职者和他的导师都觉得他“判若两人”。“我变得更加外向，能够以更加积极的方式表达自己，也更加自信。”

10 月，他为来自“勇气篇章”（The Courage Chapter）的求职者们举办了第一次人工智能实践培训课程。“勇气篇章”是一家社会企业，致力于为老年专业人士提供包容性就业机会。

他说，看到学员们兴致勃勃地运用所学知识，他感到非常欣慰。“至少你有所收获，也为别人做了些贡献。”

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