Gainful employment for seniors may help lower chances of depression, suicide

After reading news reports recently about suicides among seniors, I somehow sensed that among the reasons they feel despondent or depressed could be long-term unemployment, which may have started from being denied work when they were middle-aged or from age discrimination by employers.

I recently participated in the Comprehensive Labour Force Survey by the Ministry of Manpower and I told the interviewer that age discrimination is the main bugbear among job-seekers above the age of 50. The interviewer agreed with my observation and told me that most of the older respondents surveyed also reported facing the same challenge.

A career coach also told me that for people above the age of 65, it is extremely difficult or near impossible to get a decent job — not because of lack of skill or experience, but because employers are very fixated on age and reluctant to hire the silver-haired.

This is very sad when you consider the age profile of older or middle-aged people in our population. They are the baby-boomers born from 1946 and 1964. Many in this age group are singles, with women forming the bigger proportion. They are usually unmarried daughters in their late 40s and 50s who are full-time caregivers looking after their parents. When their loved ones die, they are unable to secure meaningful and gainful employment because of age discrimination.

It is not because older people are not technologically savvy or inexperienced or in bad health, but they are being shunned because youthfulness is always the top factor employers take into account during recruitment.

While there was a proposal for nurses, doctors and the police to be trained to pick up warning signs among elders at risk of suicide, I would like to suggest that medical social workers in hospitals, career coaches and researchers convey the observations and feedback they gather on the ground to the authorities and other parties dealing with aging issues. This would help to identify the early signs of distress and despair among elders, and get them help before it is too late.

Work gives people dignity and purpose in life. It is not going to be good for the Singapore economy and society when seniors are forced to retire early.