A survey has found that Malaysia ranked the lowest across the region in terms of the expectations of mature workers on getting support from government and employers to provide jobs.

In Malaysia, at least seven in 10 employees believe that the government (76.1%) and employers (80.8%) should support their employability as they age.

This is lower than the expectations in Singapore and Hong Kong, according to the Randstad Workmonitor quarterly survey.

In Singapore, at least eight in 10 Singaporeans believe that mature employees can only remain employed if they receive sufficient support from the government (84.7%) and employers (90.4%).

More than eight out of 10 employees in Hong Kong believe that their government (81.7%) and employers (85.4%) should support the employability of mature workers.

Overall, in the Asian markets, eight in 10 employees look to depend on the government (80.9%) and employers (85.5%) to help mature workers remain employed for a longer period of time.

On a global scale, more than half of the employees around the world believe that mature workers can only remain employable if there is sufficient support provided by the government (62.7%) or employers (74.8%).

“An ageing population means that it has become imminent to keep mature workers in the workforce,” said Randstad Malaysia country director Ryan Carroll in a statement.

Carroll said the mature employees could continue to contribute to the workforce through mentorship programmes with the younger generations and encourage the development of more diversity and inclusion schemes.

“Not only will they be able to earn and enjoy a sustainable retirement fund, the economy benefits through workplace productivity and organisational growth.”

In Malaysia, Randstad said, support could also be provided through adequate learning and development programmes by either the government or employers to ensure long-term employability.

Randstad is a global leader in the human resource services industry, with Asia-Pacific operations in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, China, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.