Mortgage reversals for elderly citizens on the agenda

The Director of the Social Welfare Bureau (IAS), Iong Kong Io, said that local elderly people are relatively active in the labor market, as currently over 8,400 out of Macau’s 54,000 elderly citizens are employed.
Iong said on a TDM radio show broadcast yesterday that the bureau is investigating measures that will encourage enterprises to employ elderly people, such as providing subsidies. In establishing a ten-year action plan for elderly services, the authorities also intend to open social enterprises for elderly workers, based on their experience in operating social enterprises for people with disabilities.
Moreover, the government is studying the establishment of a part-time working system for the elderly under the protection of new laws, so that they will have more opportunities to rejoin the workforce after retirement.
Regarding a listener’s suggestion that the reversal of mortgages for elderly citizens be promoted as a means of financial support, the head of the IAS’s Department of Social Solidarity, Choi Sio Un, responded by saying that that the bureau has discussed the idea with banking sector once before, but thinks it still needs to take local social cultural factors and risks into consideration. These would include the desire of pensioners to leave property and inheritances to their children.
However, Choi said that the IAS will study the feasibility of the suggestion and will not rule out future talks with the Macao Monetary Authority. BY